More on Aristotles

Appeals
Pathos, Ethos, Logos
And lets add Kairos

Pathos
Emotional appeals or appeals to
pathos sometimes called pathetic
appeals; arguments from the heart.
Its not necessarily the emotion a writer
puts into the work: its how he appeals to
the readers emotions.
Sometimes the facts alone wont carry the
argument, and sometimes eliciting
emotion from readers will help the writer
fulfill her purpose.

Pathos (contd)
When writers and speakers can find
the words and images to evoke
certain emotions in people, they
might also move their audiences to
sympathize with ideas they connect
to those feelings, and even to act on
them (Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz
49).

Pathos (contd)
To the Troops at Tillbury
Queen Elizabeth I
The ASPCA commercials
Pathos covers all the
emotions the pride and
courage Elizabeth evokes,
the sadness and empathy
Sarah McLachlan does, as
well as happiness,
frustration, etc. Humor is
also considered an
emotion, as in this Natalie
Dee cartoon.

Ethos
Ethical appeals or appeals to ethos;
Arguments based on character.
Writers can appeal to pathos in order to
build a bridge between themselves and
their readers. This leads us to ethos.
It has to do with ethics in that as a writer
you want your readers to trust you, and
as readers you listen to whom you trust.

Ethos (contd)
Before well listen to others, we
usually must respect their authority,
admire their integrity and motives, or
at least acknowledge what they
stand for [. . . .] Establishing
persuasive ethos, however, is not
simply a matter of seeming honest or
likable but also of affirming an
identity and sharing values with
ones intended audiences (61).

Ethos (contd)
Appeal to ethos in two
ways:
Writers shape
themselves as they
make their argument:
with their language, the
evidence they offer, the
respect they show for
their audience and for
whom they disagree.
Their reputations,
previous lives, previous
work

Ethos (contd)
To establish a persuasive ethos, a writer can
Claim authority by showing he is
knowledgeable (from doing the right research,
from past experiences).
Establish credibility by making reasonable
claims and backing them up, by showing
respect for his audience (This includes visual
conveyance of his message as well. Think about
multi-modality.).
Come clean about his motives what is the
purpose behind the argument?

Logos
Appeals to logic or logical
appeals; appeals based on fact and
reason.
The most valued appeal in most
academic writing.
Note that appealing to ethossetting
that foundation of trust between
writer and readerwill open readers
up to trusting a writers logic.

Logos (contd)
To appeal to logos, a
writer can
Provide hard evidence

Facts
Statistics
Surveys and polls
Testimonies,
narratives, interviews

Use reason and

common sense

Logos (contd)
Provide logical structure for argument
Degree: more of a good thing or less of a bad
thing is good. Example: If I can get a ten-year
warranty on a humble Kia, shouldnt I get the
same or better from Lexus? or Better a
conventional war now than a nuclear
confrontation later.
Analogies: explaining by comparison.
Precedent: citing past/other situations to
explain the reasonableness of the argument at
hand.

Kairos
In the original Greek, Kairos had two meanings:
exact or critical time, season, or opportunity,
due measure, proportion, or fitness

So, when someone asks you to consider kairos,

consider the timeliness of your argument. Who
needs to hear your argument now, in this point
in time, and why?
Consider my Tiger Woods example from a few
slides ago. Its not as relevant today as it was
when I first drafted this presentation.

Works Cited
Losh, Elizabeth et al. Understanding
Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014.
Print.
Lunsford, Andrea A. and John J.
Ruszkiewicz.
Everythings An Argument 4th ed.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007.
Print.