Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

The goal of argumentative writing is to persuade your audience or listener's and convince them that your ideas are valid, or at least more valid than another idea.  According to Durham Tech, the Greek philosopher, Artistotle, divided the means of persuasion into three main categories: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.  Ethos refers to the establishment of credibility of the author so the listeners know the source is trustworthy.  Pathos generates emotions in order to help persuade the audience.  Logos uses evidence, logic, and statistics to prove a point.

ETHOS (Greek for "Character")

Ethos may be the toughest argumentative strategy to understand and accomplish (Ruszkiewicz and Dolmage 231).  According to Aristotle, our perception of a speaker or writer's character influences how believable or convincing we find what that person has to say.  People believe speakers who are credible and who we respect.  According to Durham Tech, the main issue some people have while making an argument is that they do not establish to the reader that your thoughts are worth hearing and that you are worth their time to listen to.  You need to make it a priority in your argument that you know what you are talking about.

According to "The Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos", an essay written by Professor Jeanne Fahnestock of the University of Maryland, College Park, 

"We are naturally more likely to be persuaded by a person who, we think, has personal warmth, consideration of others, a good mind and solid learning...People whose education, experience, and previous performances qualify them to speak on a certain issue earn the special extrinsic ethos of the authority...This impression created by the text itself is the intrinsic ethos."

In order to establish your credibility, you can speak about how you are informed on the subject (taken classes about the topic, etc) or you can use institutions, public figures, and publications to establish ethos or credibility.

This advertisement by Camel uses ethos by citing doctors from a survey.  Doctors are considered to be the expert and by saying that doctors choose Camel over other cigarettes they are establishing credibility.

PATHOS (Greek for "Suffering" or "Experience")


Pathos is the strategy of persuading through emotions.  According to Durham Tech, it is an appeal to the audiences sympathies and sense of identity.  Many philosophers consider pathos to be the strongest of these three appeals.  Using a pathos appeal makes the audience respond emotionally and feel what the writer or speaker feels (or is trying to make them feel).  Durham Tech also states that "we naturally bend in the direction of what is advantageous to us, what serves our interests or the interests of any group we believe ourselves a part of", explaining why pathos is so effective in getting our audience to do or feel what the speaker wants them to.

You can attempt to create various emotions in your listeners through pathos.  In some instances, you may want to make them feel pity for someone, while in others you may want to make your listeners envious of something.  According to Durham Tech, pictures and videos are most effective in doing creating an emotion because they give the listener a visual to put with the words, making everything seem more "real".

In the image above, Twister is using pathos by showing pictures of people playing their game, laughing, and having a good time.  They are trying to convince the customer that if they buy and play this game, they will be laughing and having just as much fun.

Another common example of pathos are Humane Society commercials.  In these commercials, they show images of sad and desperate animals while playing a slow and sad song.  After showing you these images and making you feel sad and the urge to help, they then show how happy the animals are once they come to the Humane Society and ask you to donate, by saying something along the lines of "we can save these animals from abusive and neglecting homes, but we need your help".  I know this appeal works on me in these commercials every time...

LOGOS (Greek for "Word")

Logos, similar to the word "logic", is the means of persuading through reason.  Speakers who use this appeal use statistics, inductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning to help make their point.  Aristotle found this as the most important appeal because without logic and reasons to back up your claim, you really have no case.  There must be evidence that there is a problem, and statistics/reasoning to support how bad that problem is, followed by a solution, with statistics/reasoning to show how your solution will fix this problem.  According to Durham Tech, the two main types of reasoning are inductive and deductive.

Inductive reasoning:  giving your listeners many examples similar to your problem and then drawing from them a general proposition.

EX) My math teacher is skinny.  My math teacher last year was skinny too.  Therefore, all math teachers are skinny.

Deductive reasoning: giving your listeners a few general propositions and then drawing from them a specific truth.

EX) Rectangles have four sides.  A square has four sides.  Therefore, a square is a rectangle.

Conclusion

All three appeals are effective in their own way depending on the audience.  Though they can be useful alone in an argument, they are better when combined with another or even best when you use all three to make one main point.  If you can appeal to all angles of your audience (their character, their emotions, their logical side), you will have a solid argument and, if you use all appeals well, you will have made your point and persuaded the people you were trying to.

Works Cited

"Ethos, Pathos, and Logos." Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.  N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Nov. 2014.

"The Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos." The Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.  N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2014

Ruszkiewicz, John J., and Jay Dolmage. How to Write Anything: A Guide and Reference, with Readings.  Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.