This paper deals with the three persuasive appeals, which are called ethos, pathos, and logos. The main goal of this paper is to provide the brief history of these persuasive appeals and give their definition. This goal is achieved with the help of relevant sources of information.
These three persuasive appeals were firstly mentioned by Aristotle in his book, which is called On Rhetoric. In this book, Aristotle gathered his thoughts concerning the art of rhetoric and conducted the theory about three persuasive appeals. A lot of educators who teach communication and speech state that this book is the seminal work in this field of knowledge. Moreover, this book is also considered to be the most important work concerning the persuasion (Dlugan, 2010).
Ethos can be defined as an ethical appeal. However, this one is quite different from the usual understanding of the word ethical. Ethos is used in order to describe the way in which the audience perceives the rhetor’s credibility. The audience asks themselves questions about whether the rhetor knows the topic and whether he can be trusted. There are two types of ethos, which are called extrinsic and instrinsic (Williams, 2015).
Pathos can be defined as a pathetic appeal. This word is used in order to describe the rhetor’s endeavor to address the emotions and interest of the audience. Moreover, the rhetor uses a pathetic appeal in order to create the sense of identity with his audience (Williams, 2015).
Finally, logos can be defined as a logical appeal. However, the statement must not be logical in order to be called a logical appeal. The logos is used in order to define what type of rhetorical appeal was made, but not to assess whether it was successful or not (Williams, 2015).
References
Dlugan, A. (2010). Ethos, Pathos, Logos: 3 Pillars of Public Speaking. Six Minutes. Retrieved 12 February 2016, from http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/ethos-pathos-logos/
Williams, G. (2015). Dr. Williams : USC Upstate : English Program / Ethos-Pathos-Logos-The-3-Rhetorical-Appeals. Georgehwilliams.pbworks.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016, from http://georgehwilliams.pbworks.com/w/page/14266873/Ethos-Pathos-Logos-The-3-Rhetorical-Appeals
