Ethos, Pathos and Logos

1. Ethos, Pathos and Logos Methods of Persuasion

2. Ethos… • Ethical appeal • Credibility • Means convincing by the character of the author • We tend to believe people we respect • One of the central problems of argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are someone worth listening to

3. When you are writing ETHOS Make yourself, as the author, into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likeable and worthy of respect

4. When you are studying ethOS • Does the author have the appropriate background to speak with authority? • Is the author knowledgeable? • Does this author seem trustworthy? • Does the author seem devious?

5. Pathos… • Emotional • Means persuading by appealing to the reader’s emotions • We can look at texts ranging from classic essays to contemporary advertisements to see how pathos, emotional appeals, are used to persuade • Language choice affects the audience’s emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument

6. When you are writing PATHOS Appeal to the emotions of your audience by using figurative language (metaphor, analogy, allusion, hyperbole, connotative words, etc), descriptive words, and, sometimes, humour.

7. When you are studying PAthOS • Do you think the author is trying to manipulate your emotions? • Do your emotions conflict with your logical interpretation of the arguments? • Does the author use humour or irony?

8. logos • Logical • Means persuading by the use of reasoning • This will be the most important technique we will look at (and Aristotle’s masterpiece) • We will look at deductive and inductive reasoning and discuss what makes effective reasoning • Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation and cannot be emphasized enough

9. When you are writing LOGOS Use logic to convince your audience that your argument is the correct one. Use facts, statistics, expert opinions, concrete examples, and personal experiences.

10. When you are studying LOGOS • Look for author’s major claims and ask: “Do you agree with the author’s claim that …” • Can you think of counterarguments that the author doesn’t consider? • Do you think the author has left something out on purpose? Why?

11. We’ll study the types of support you can use to substantiate your thesis • We’ll look at logical fallacies in order to avoid them in your writing