Every commercial you watch, every conversation you join, and every argument you have about who is the GOAT includes at least one of three rhetorical appeals. Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Rhetoric, or the art of persuasion, always incorporates these appeals. Whenever you read a text or argue with a buddy about which is better, tacos or hamburgers, you are using Ethos, Pathos, or Logos.
Or, if you're good, you're using a combination of all three. Ethos is a rhetorical appeal that appeals to credibility, trust, character, and ethics. To be persuasive, it is important that a writer or speaker be trusted and seen as credible by his or her audience. Here are some ways you can integrate ethos into your writing and speaking.
Use credible sources to support your arguments. For example, which one of these arguments do you think is the most persuasive? A 75-year study by Harvard found that relationships have a powerful influence over your health and longevity. Or, after taking six days to contemplate my life, it is clear that relationships have a powerful influence on health.
Both statements make similar claims. Relationships impact health. However, the second statement is based on personal experience and six days of contemplation.
And the first statement is supported by 75 years of research and is conducted by a prestigious university, Harvard. Therefore, the first claim is more trustworthy and credible than the second, and thus more persuasive. You can also integrate ethos into your writing and speaking by using the appropriate tone and language for your audience. By speaking the language of your audience, you build rapport with them, and this increases trust. If the person you are speaking with values freedom and liberty, then using a quote by George Washington could be persuasive in the sense that you, too, have thought about freedom and liberty.
Qualifying arguments can also be a useful tool to build credibility with an audience. Instead of using words like always or everyone, Say things like, the research suggests, in my experience, where several studies demonstrate, qualifying or limiting your arguments makes you look like a nuanced thinker and thus trustworthy. If you appear one-sided and biased, you look less credible.
Another way of demonstrating ethos is by accurately and fairly representing counter arguments. While this can also be a form of logos, since integrating counter-arguments shows that you are a logical thinker. It also gives you credibility in the sense that you are fair.
A fair person is objective and thus credible. A final way of establishing ethos is by limiting spelling and grammatical mistakes in your writing. These sorts of mistakes cause you to appear less sophisticated and professional, and this can hurt your credibility.
The use of emotions through rhetoric is what Aristotle called pathos. This idea is based on the fact that humans are filled with a variety of emotions. Whether it is sadness, happiness, fear, anger, surprise, or disgust, emotions change how we see the world and how we interpret the actions of others. For example, pretend someone said, caring for the environment may not change your life. but it will change the lives of your children.
This statement is attempting to appeal to people's emotions, specifically their love for their children. Most people want what is best for their kids and this statement caters to that desire. Now listen to the following two statements and guess which one is using pathos. COVID-19 drove an additional 97 million people into extreme poverty in 2020. According to World Bank estimates, the loss of Anna's family business meant her family had to sell their cows and resort to living on $1 a day. Her 6-year-old daughter often cries now about how hungry she is.
While example 1 relies on ethos and logos, example 2 is more descriptive about extreme poverty and what it looks like. Example 2 humanizes the data. The description of a six-year-old girl crying from hunger is sobering and sad.
It is therefore an example of pathos. Perhaps the most compelling way to elicit emotions in readers and listeners is through storytelling or anecdotes. Short stories are a great way of motivating and persuading others.
For example, if you were trying to persuade a friend to join the football team, you could tell a story about how you, too, were hesitant to join the team. But now that you have been lifting weights, you have become more confident. And now that you are part of a team, you feel more accepted at school. Personal examples or stories are great persuasive tools for stimulating emotions in listeners.
A speaker or writer's logos appeals to the rationality and logic of our audience. Have you ever had a teacher tell you, be sure you back up a claim with evidence and reasoning? If you have, your teacher wants you to demonstrate logos or logic.
You see, you see, When you write an argumentative essay that includes a thesis statement, and that thesis is followed by body paragraphs that each argue for that thesis, you are thinking logically. There is a method to your thinking, a pattern, a bringing together of information that aligns and makes sense. For example, in Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union address, Obama appeals to his audience's sense of logic by supporting his claims with Evidence.
But tonight we turn the page. Tonight, after a breakthrough year for America, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Our unemployment rate is now lower than it was before the financial crisis. More of our kids are graduating than ever before.
More of our people are insured than ever before. And we are as free from the grip of foreign oil as we've been in almost 30 years. 30 years. Now Obama's information here could be wrong, dramatized, or biased, but the structure of his ideas that the economy is growing, unemployment is low, kids are graduating, people are insured, and the U.S. is not as dependent on foreign oil as before, all provide evidence that aligns with Obama's claim that America had a breakthrough year and continues to do well. Effective forms of Logos include statistics and facts, if-then statements, inductive and deductive reasoning, and more.
Now that you know what Ethos, Pathos, and Logos means, demonstrate your knowledge by answering the following questions.