Transcript Rhetorical Appeal

Rhetorical Appeals:
Logos, Pathos, Ethos
Rhetoric: A brief history
 Rhetoric is the study of writing or
speaking as a means of
communication or persuasion.
 The history of rhetoric reaches back
to the beginnings of human culture.
 Ancient Greek civilization gave birth
to some of human history’s great
philosophers—Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle.
Examples?
 What are some of the techniques by
which people use language
persuasively?
 Jot these down in your notes
Maybe you named some of these
examples:
 Formal diction leads readers/listeners
to believe something is ethically or
legally important
 Emotional diction (sometimes called
“sensationalism”) leads
readers/listeners to recognize that
ideas expressed are important to the
writer/speaker
Here is a real-life example of
rhetoric in action…
 If you were trying to persuade a
student to get to class on time, you
might say, “it is WHS policy that
students serve detention after three
tardies”. What makes this statement
effective?
 The statement sounds formal and
authoritative!
Socrates: Ancient Greek Philosopher
Socrates was an ancient
Greek philosopher who is
widely credited for laying the
foundation for Western
philosophy. The trial and
execution of Socrates was the
climax of his career and the
central event of the dialogues
of Plato. Socrates admits in
court that he could have
avoided the trial by
abandoning philosophy and
going home to mind his own
business.
Plato: Ancient Greek Philosopher
Plato was an ancient Greek
philosopher, as well as a
mathematician, writer of
philosophical dialogues, and
founder of the Academy in
Athens. Plato is widely
believed to have been a
student of Socrates and to
have been deeply influenced
by his teacher's unjust death.
Plato's brilliance as a writer
and thinker can be witnessed
by reading his Socratic
dialogues.
Aristotle: The Great Philosopher
Aristotle was a Greek
philosopher, a student of Plato
and teacher of Alexander the
Great. He wrote on diverse
subjects, including physics,
metaphysics, poetry (including
theater), biology and zoology,
logic, rhetoric, politics,
government, and ethics. Along
with Socrates and Plato,
Aristotle was one of the most
influential of the ancient Greek
philosophers.
-en.wikipedia.org
Rhetorical Appeals
Aristotle named three rhetorical appeals
 Logos: logical appeal
 Pathos: emotional appeal
 Ethos: ethical appeal
The Rhetorical Triangle
Speaker
(Ethos)
conversation
Audience
(Pathos)
Subject
(Logos)
The Greek philosophers
also gave us the
rhetorical triangle,
which argues that all
forms of communication
are a conversation
between the text, the
audience and the
author.
The Triple Threat: logos, pathos, ethos
Most persuasive texts
will use some
combination of the three
appeals to get their
message across. Each of
the appeals corresponds
to a part of the
rhetorical triangle
(pictured here).
Speaker
(Ethos)
conversation
Audience
(Pathos)
Subject
(Logos)
Logos
 Logos appeals to logic and may
include facts, statistics, or quotes
from experts in the subject matter
 This information is used as evidence
within the text to support your
argument and persuade the audience.
Example: “Nine out of ten health
professionals agree, an apple a day
really does keep the doctor away.”
Logos: related vocabulary
 Logos literally means the “word”
 Dialogue is the exchange of words
between two people.
 A monologue is the delivery of words
from one person without any
expectation of a response.
 A logo is a symbol that represents all
the words (and ideas) associated with
a company or brand.
Logos: another example
Here we see a chart
showing a correlation
between the fall of
pirates and rise of
natural disasters. Are
you convinced by
these statistics?
Pathos
 Pathos appeals to the emotions,
needs and wants of the listener.
 This strategy attempts to influence or
manipulate the emotions and desires
of the audience in order to persuade
or convince the listener that their
argument is true.
Pathos: related vocabulary
 Sympathy and empathy are both
emotional states and have to do with
shared feelings.
 Pathological liars have no feelings of
guilt when they do not tell the truth.
 If someone is pathetic, they are
pitifully sad.
Pathos: the power of story
Many of the stories we
hear and read as children
are written to appeal to
our emotions so that we
will be persuaded to
follow certain social and
moral codes (which brings
us to the next part of the
rhetorical triangle—
ethos… Can you name the
moral of the story?)
Ethos
 Ethos appeals to our sense of ethics,
including social and moral codes,
trust, and credibility.
 There are two kinds of ethos—artistic
and inartistic.
 Artistic ethos is created and sustained
through the delivery of the message.
 Inartistic ethos pre-exists and comes
along with someone’s status or station.
For example…
 The President of the United States
has inartistic ethos because of his
station (we applaud Presidents when
they enter a room to deliver a
speech).
 However, the President can lose our
trust through his or her actions (or
through their artistic ethos).
Can you think of any other examples?
Ethos: related vocabulary
 Ethics are a set of moral principles, or a
theory or system of moral values.
 If you are an ethical person, you are
considered a good person and you most
likely follow the rules.
 If someone has a good work ethic, they
have a strong belief in work as a moral
good. In other words, they work hard
because they believe it is the right thing to
do.
Rhetorical Strategies
 The strategies that follow are just
some of the ways to make your
writing/speaking more persuasive…
Audience
 When attempting to persuade,
consider your audience.
 For example, you would not use
caustic satire to persuade a
potential employer to hire you.
 (“The food served here is great
if you are a teenager with two
dollars in your pocket.”)
Parallel Structure
 Parallel Structure-repetition of
grammatically similar words,
phrases, clauses, or sentences to
emphasize a point or stir the
emotions of a reader/listener. Used
to create a sense of rhythm,
balance, and order in writing or
speech.
Parallel Structure
The coach told the players: “You will
get some sleep tonight, you will not
eat too much right before the game,
and you will do some warm-up
exercises before the game.”
Alliteration
 Repetition of initial consonant
sounds. Used to call attention to a
phrase and fixes it in the
reader’s/listener’s mind.
 (i.e. “Let us go forth to lead the land
we love.”- John F. Kennedy
Inaugural speech)
Humor
 Humor can be used to make you like
the writer/speaker and “win you over”
 Hyperbole-exaggeration for
emphasis/effect (“at night she needs a
paint scraper to take off her makeup”)
 Irony (verbal, situational, dramatic)
(“it is ironic that the window store had
all of its windows broken by vandals”)
 Understatement-the opposite of
Hyperbole (From Monty Python: Army
officer loses a leg, “Stings a bit.”)