Rhetorical Appeals:

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Rhetorical Appeals

• Logos, Pathos, Ethos

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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 historys great philosophersSocrates,
  Plato, and Aristotle.

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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.

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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.

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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

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Rhetorical Appeals

• Aristotle named three rhetorical appeals
• Logos logical appeal
• Pathos emotional appeal
• Ethos ethical appeal

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The Rhetorical Triangle

• 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.

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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).

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Logos

• Logos appeals to logic and may include facts,
  statistics, or quotes
• 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.
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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.

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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?

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Logos more examples(Can you identify the
logical appeals used in these cartoons?)
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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.

Can you name any propaganda techniques that rely
on emotional appeals?
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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.

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Pathos a second look(Can you identify the
emotional appeals used below?)
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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 triangleethos Can you name the
  moral of the story?)

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Ethos

• Ethos appeals to our sense of ethics, including
  social and moral codes, trust, and credibility.
• There are two kinds of ethosartistic and
  inartistic.
• Artistic ethos is created and sustained through
  the delivery of the message.
• Inartistic ethos pre-exists and comes along with
  someones status or station.

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For example

• An officer of the law has inartistic ethos
  because of the station they hold (we trust them
  because of their position).
• However, that same officer can lose our trust by
  their actions, as in the case of Rodney King.

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For example

• The President of the United States has inartistic
  ethos because of their 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?
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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.

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Now that you know

• see if you can identify how each of the
  appealslogos, pathos, and ethosare used in the
  following print advertisements. Here is your
  first chance to try out your knowledge The
  Magnus Harmonica!

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And NOW this
Now that we have looked closely at a selection
of advertisements, lets see if any of the things
you noticed match what I saw What appeals did
you notice and how were they used?
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Did you notice ?

• Pathos The expressions on their face
  communicate specific emotions. The word free is
  also shown in the description (this is a loaded
  or emotional word). The words, What you need is
  a Magnus suggest that the harmonica will be the
  solution to the mans unhappiness. The words,
  easy to play seem to say that the man will have
  no trouble playing the harmonica on the first
  try, so he will not be disappointed in his
  performance (and his unhappiness will be
  relieved). The ad goes on to say that you can
  learn to play in 5 minutes
• Ethos The harmonica is sold by a company called
  International Plastic Harmonica Corporation.
  This suggests that this brand of harmonica is
  known around the world (although, if we look
  carefully, we notice that their business is run
  out of Newark, NJ).
• Logos The description of the harmonica offers
  us specific facts and features that persuade us
  to purchase the harmonicainstructions in every
  packagecan be washed in soap and water They
  also offer us a choice of colors and pricing
  options.

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Pathos Everyone shown in this image is smiling.
Happiness seems to surround them as they sit
together in what seems to be a ski lodge. They
are dressed warmly and are sitting near a glowing
fireplace. The red of the cigarette package
stands out against the black and white imagethis
seems to suggest that the owner of the cigarettes
might also distinguish himself (or stand out
from the crowd) by owning the cigarettes. Loaded
words like smooth, finest quality,
distinguished," and finest money can buy
suggest wealthy and upper class living. Ethos
Pall Mall attempts to give their argument
credibility by showing us a picture of one man
offering the cigarettes to another. The man
offering the cigarettes seems slightly older than
the man receiving the cigarettes, maybe
suggesting that the older mans experience
qualifies him to make a recommendation. Logos
Interestingly, there is little or no evidence of
a logical appeal, although the words, guard
against throat scratch seem to suggest that
smoking other brands will cause your throat to
scratch.
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Pathos As in the other advertisement, everyone
shown in this image is smiling. Happiness seems
to surround them as they sit together in the
seats of a Greyhound bus. Everyone is formally
dressed and neatly groomed. The friendly way to
travel suggests that driving in a car, or riding
your bike, are more aggressive. The ad also
states, The people you meet aboard a Greyhound
somehow seem more neighborly, more relaxed,
easier to talk to. In fact, it looks like this
group of people could have come from the same
neighborhood. Ethos The ethical appeal is
harder to see. Greyhound seems to be relying on
the credibility of its name, and its
presentation as a safe and clean environment in
the advertisement. Logos Greyhound uses its
low fares as evidence to support the passengers
friendly attitude a person who has bought a
travel bargain is sure to be in a pleasant frame
of mind. They dont offer any specific pricing
information, however.
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Pathos The man appears to be in the role of the
husband returning home to his wife after a long
day of work. He reaches for her, hat in hand, and
instead of the royal welcome he expects, the
man is greeted by the scrutinizing stare of his
wife, whose expression seems to communicate
suspicion, anxiety and possibly disgust. The font
exclaims INFECTIOUS DANDRUFF! Infectious is a
loaded or emotional word that carries a negative
connotation similar in tone to the expression on
the womans face. Ethos The ethical argument
is harder to see and seems connected to the
pseudoscience (false scientific facts and
information) pictured on the mans
shoulder. Logos The close-up image of the
germs, flakes, and scales pictured on the mans
shoulder attempt to create a sense of scientific
evidence, although they ultimately come across as
specious.