Who used the three persuasive appeals ethos pathos and logos to explain how rhetoric works *?

The Rhetorical Triangle: Ethos, Pathos and Logos

Thousands of years ago, Aristotle provided us with three ways to appeal to an audience, and they’re called logos, pathos, and ethos. You’ll learn more about each appeal in the discussion below, but the relationship between these three appeals is also often called the rhetorical triangle as shown in Figure 8.2. The idea is a persuasive message has all 3 of the points of a triangle. (As you can see, this is a very triangle-heavy chapter).

Latin for emotion, pathos is the fastest way to get your audience’s attention. People tend to have emotional responses before their brains kick in and tell them to knock it off. Be careful though. Too much pathos can make your audience feel emotionally manipulated or angry because they’re also looking for the facts to support whatever emotional claims you might be making so they know they can trust you.

Many donations campaigns draw on pathos, such as this classic ASPCA ad:

Logos

Latin for logic, logos is where those facts come in. Your audience will question the validity of your claims; the opinions you share in your writing need to be supported using science, statistics, expert perspective, and other types of logic. However, if you only rely on logos, your writing might become dry and boring, so even this should be balanced with other appeals.

Ethos

Latin for ethics, ethos is what you do to prove to your audience that you can be trusted, that you are a credible source of information. (See logos.) It’s also what you do to assure them that they are good people who want to do the right thing. This is especially important when writing an argument to an audience who disagrees with you. It’s much easier to encourage a disagreeable audience to listen to your point of view if you have convinced them that you respect their opinion and that you have established credibility through the use of logos and pathos, which show that you know the topic on an intellectual and personal level.

You can also gain ethos through your use of sources. Reliable, appropriate sources act as expert voices that provide a perspective you don’t have. Layout, graphic design choices, white space, style and tone: all of these factors influence your ethos.

Fallacies

Regardless of what appeals you use in your writing, it is important to be aware of fallacies (errors in reasoning) because they can reduce the impact of your message on your reader. For more information on common fallacies, refer to these resources available from the Writing Commons:

  • Logical fallacies: https://writingcommons.org/fallacious-logos
  • Emotional fallacies: https://writingcommons.org/fallacious-pathos
  • Ethical/credible fallacies: https://writingcommons.org/fallacious-ethos

Using Ethos, Pathos and Logos

According to Aristotle, a solid argument needed ethos, pathos and logos. That doesn’t mean that you should try to balance each one in every persuasive argument you make. Instead, ethos, pathos and logos help us do two things:

  1. Determine why an argument isn’t currently persuasive. For example, if you show a sample ad campaign to a client and they don’t find it trustworthy, you can examine how you’re using ethos. If your Powerpoint presentation is boring, you can think about how pathos could be used to help your audience take your message seriously.
  2. Identify how others are trying to persuade us: Ethos, pathos and logos can be useful tools for information literacy. When a salesperson comes into your office to give you a slick pitch about a new piece of software that’s going to change your working life, you can think about how they’re trying to persuade you. Is it all pathos with very few facts to back it up?

Practicing Ethos, Pathos and Logos

To practice your rhetorical triangle skills, see if you can identify how this vintagead for candy is using ethos, pathos and logos. It’s a little hard to read, so the hotspots repeat the text. (You’ll also notice that this ad is a product of its time. Would a candy ad for today ever have this much text?)

Image Description

Figure 8.2 image description: Starting at the top of the triangle, ethos, which is ethics and credibility; then, going counterclockwise pathos, which is emotion; and logos, which is logic and reason, are the three points in the rhetorical triangle. [Return to Figure 8.2]

… a core concept in Communication Skills and Atlas 109

Concept description

Logos, ethos and pathos are the three rhetorical appeals set out in 350 BC by Aristotle in On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse and used by many today to organize advice on public speaking and how to persuade.

Andrew Dlugan notes that many teachers of communication, speech, and rhetoric consider Aristotle’s On Rhetoric to be a seminal work in the field. Indeed, the editors of The Rhetoric of Western Thought: From the Mediterranean World to the Global Setting call it “the most important single work on persuasion ever written.” Dlugan says that it is hard to argue this claim; most advice from modern books can be traced back to Aristotle’s foundations.

On his website, Six Minutes – Speaking and Presentation Skills, Dlugan lists questions to ask oneself:

LOGOS
(logical argument)

Does your message make sense?

Is your message based on facts, statistics, and evidence?

Will your call-to-action lead to the desired outcome that you promise?

ETHOS
(credibility or character of the speaker)

Does the audience respect you?

Does the audience believe you are of good character?

Does the audience believe you are generally trustworthy?

Does the audience believe you are an authority on this speech topic?

PATHOS
(emotional connection to the audience)

Do your words evoke feelings of … love? … sympathy? … fear?

Do your visuals evoke feelings of compassion? … envy?

Does your characterization of the competition evoke feelings of hate? … contempt?

We will see why logos is critical to your success, and examine ways to construct a logical, reasoned argument. Keep in mind that it isn’t enough for you to know that you are a credible source. (This isn’t about your confidence, experience, or expertise.) Your audience must know this. Ethos is your level of credibility as perceived by your audience.

We will define ethos in greater detail, and we will study examples of how to establish and build ethos.

Emotional connection can be created in many ways by a speaker, perhaps most notably by stories. The goal of a story, anecdote, analogy, simile, and metaphor is often to link an aspect of our primary message with a triggered emotional response from the audience.

We will study pathos in greater detail, and look at how to build pathos by tapping into different audience emotions.

Marie Danziger, a lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School, summarizes her advice on How To Be Persuasive as:

LOGOS
(logical argument)

Keep it simple, structured, and easy to remember

Use “mental models” to create a framework

Pre-empt objections and counterarguments establish common ground

ETHOS
(personal credibility and likability)

Show that you care

Talk from your own values and experience

Acknowledge the color of your lens

Use examples from your readings

Refer to people they know and trust

Be real and interactive, not a talking head

PATHOS
(emotional impact)

Acknowledge your audience’s values and feelings

Share your own feelings and reactions

Use striking facts, statistics, and contrasts

Be personal

Be visual

Tell stories

Source

Drawn from Andrew Dlugan at http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/ethos-pathos-logos/, accessed 20 January 2016 and Marie Danziger, How to be Persuasive at http://shorensteincenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/HOW-TO-BE-PERSUASIVE_new2013.pdf, accessed 20 January 2016.

Atlas topic and subject

Practices of Persuasion (core topic) in Communication Skills

Page created by: Ian Clark, last modified on 4 August 2022.

Image: Ethical Use of Credibility Appeals, at https://www.boundless.com/communications/textbooks/boundless-communications-textbook/methods-of-persuasive-speaking-15/credibility-appeals-76/ethical-usage-298-4315/, accessed 22 January 2016.

Who developed the 3 types of rhetorical persuasion?

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are referred to as the 3 Persuasive Appeals (Aristotle coined the terms) and are all represented by Greek words. They are modes of persuasion used to convince audiences.

Who created the 3 purposes of persuasion?

Aristotle determined that persuasion comprises a combination of three appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos.

Who invented rhetorical appeals?

Concept description. Logos, ethos and pathos are the three rhetorical appeals set out in 350 BC by Aristotle in On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse and used by many today to organize advice on public speaking and how to persuade.

Which philosopher argued that there were 3 types of persuasive appeals?

Over 2,000 years ago the Greek philosopher Aristotle argued that there were three basic ways to persuade an audience of your position: ethos, logos, and pathos.