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Virtue and goodwill are the remaining qualities that help make an
author believable. Stating one's beliefs, values, and priorities in
connection with the subject assists in convincing the audience of
the argument. If these beliefs and values coincide with the majority
of the audience, the writer is well on his way to success. If those
beliefs do not match the audience's, the writer needs to establish
the grounds for changing the audience's beliefs. Goodwill helps the
writer establish those grounds. If the writer projects concerns for
the audience's viewpoint and respects the audience's intelligence, if
the writer projects sincerity and common sense, then the audience
is more likely to change its ideas too. Both qualities help the author
persuade the audience.
The attitude which the writer assumes toward his audience is the
central to establishing ethical appeal (Talmadge 157). The range of
attitudes extends from formality to informality. The speaker who
establishes a formal relationship with his audience maintains "an
aloof dignity," suitable for serious discourse. Informal speakers
regard their audience more as a group of individuals with whom
they can become familiar, like friends engaging in an easy
conversation. The writer anticipates which attitude will work best
for a particular audience at an early stage of the writing process
and then carefully maintains that attitude throughout the work
(Talmadge 159). This fact leads us to understand the importance of
audience in rhetorical analysis.
Birmingham Jail," excerpted at ~
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right, King calmly explains to
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several priests, rabbis, and
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6ogos translates into "word" or "reason." In rhetoric, logos refers
to systems of reasoning. Logos, along with
and
,
make up a means of persuasion called the three appeals ² three
ways of persuading an audience (Covino and Jolliffe 15).
For the ancient Greeks, logos meant more than logic or reasoning:
it meant "thought plus action" (Covino and Jolliffe 17). It appeals
to patterns, conventions, and modes of reasoning that the audience
finds convincing and persuasive (Covino and Jolliffe 17).
Although logos, pathos, and ethos are different but complementary
methods of persuasion. Ethos moves an audience by proving the
credibility and trustworthiness of the rhetor, the speaker; pathos
seeks to change the attitudes and actions of the audience by
playing on the feelings of the audience; and logos persuades
through the powers of reasoning (Covino and Jolliffe 17). Rhetors
must consider all three means of persuasion if they with to
convince the audience. Before engaging in discourse, the rhetors
must ask themselves the following:
Socrates is a man.
Socrates is mortal.
Socrates is mortal.
Socrates is a cat.
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Aristotle analyzed the process whereby a statement can be
logically inferred to be true from the fact that its premises are true,
a process he called a syllogism. A syllogism is the most common
type of deductive logic. Aristotle called it the "main instrument for
reaching scientific conclusions." The "All men are mortal..."
argument from earlier is an example of a syllogism.
John will surely fail his calculus exam, because he hasn't studied.
The tools of logos are not totally related to logic and reasoning.
Rational appeal, for many rhetoricians, includes what are called
extrinsic proofs ² the use of data (such as statistics) and testimony
(such as eye-witness accounts or statements from authorities).
Such proofs, though, take us to the edge of logos and force us to
think about ethos and pathos too. After all, statistics can be
deceiving (as Benjamin Disraeli once said, "There are three kinds
of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.") And even eye-witness
testimony can be less than accurate, as police and judicial officers
readily know. The audience must accept the testimony as valid
(ethos), and they must be moved by the data (pathos). Thus, logos,
pathos and ethos work in concert to help the rhetor persuade the
audience.
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Pathos, also called the pathetic or emotional appeals, persuades audiences by using emotions
(Lanham 74). In his Rhetoric, Aristotle states that there are two different origins of the emotional
appeals. First, the rhetor may use enargeia. The word enargeia means literally "in work";
energizing or actualizing. It refers to the rhetor's goal of arousing the passions within the
audience to move them to act (Corbett a19). For example, consider the Save the Children ad on
the right. (You may click on the ad to see it enlarged.) The ad uses a photo of a small child, so
malnourished that his bones are clearly visible under his skin. He sits huddled in the open air,
weak, in a fetal position. A vulture sits, waiting, in the background. The images and text in this
ad are designed to have the maximum emotional effect for one thing: to motivate the reader to
act ² to make an act of charity.
Secondly, the rhetor may use honorific or pejorative language to generate emotional appeal
(Crowley 126-7). Honorific and pejorative language together I call suasive language, language
designed to sway the audience in favor of or against a subject. Honorific language heaps praise
on its subject and treats the subject with respect. Pejorative language disparages the subject,
ridiculing and downplaying the significance of the subject. To see and hear an example of
honorific language at work, consider these ads from the MDA telethon, hosted each year by Jerry
Lewis. The first photo shows Lewis with the "Goodwill Ambassador," an honorific title,
elevating the subject from the language of the past, when Benjamin Cumbo would have been
called the "poster child." You can listen to Lewis's appeal for a donation to the Muscular
Dystrophy Association by clicking on the image of the speaker. As you listen, pay attention to
Lewis's use of honorific language, such as "life saving research" and "Thank you for caring."
Enargeia and suasive language work together with
and
to create a powerful, moving
argument that some ancient rhetoricians described as word magic (Nash 209). But it wasn't
magic that helped MDA raise a record 50.5 million dollars in 1997. It was good, solid, carefully
prepared rhetoric.
Effective use of emotional appeal is also credited with saving the political career of then Senator
Richard Nixon. In 1952, it was discovered that he had accepted several "gifts" from campaign
contributors, gifts that he later had to return.
The scandal came at a bad time, since Nixon was chosen to be Eisenhower's Vice-Presidential
running mate. Under pressure, Nixon made a public accounting of all his assets and an apology
for accepting the gifts. Although the speech has several effective emotional appeals, this speech
has become known as the "Checkers Speech" since he uses his child's dog, Checkers, as an
opportunity to make the most memorable emotional appeal to his audience. I have excerpted the
relevant paragraphs at right. You can listen to these paragraphs of Richard Nixon's "Checkers
Speech" of 2a September 1952 by clicking on the image of the speaker. But be patient: it's a
large file ² 474K.
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The most powerful example of emotional appeal I can think of occurs in Martin Luther King,
Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail." In April of 196a, a young, relatively unknown minister left
his home and church in Atlanta, Georgia to help his friends and colleagues protest nonviolently
against segregation and discrimination in Birmingham, Alabama. That minister, Martin Luther
King, Jr., was arrested and held in jail. While in jail, several priests, rabbis, and ministers
published a letter in the Birmingham newspaper, calling this young minister's actions unwise and
poorly timed. Their letter suggested that King and other civil rights leaders should just wait, that
the life was bound to get better for American blacks, if they just waited.
In response to that editorial, King wrote one of the greatest pieces of literature in English, his
"Letter from Birmingham Jail." In the following excerpt from the letter, notice King's use of
suasive language, especially how he turns pejorative language to his purpose. Notice too his use
of repetition in sentence structure, a rhetorical device we will study later, called parallelism.
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King's sparing use of pathos in this letter is the best example I can give you to illustrate the
power of emotional appeal.
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µ µ Corbett, Edward P. J. Classical Rhetoric for Modern Students, 2nd ed. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1971.
µ µ Crowley, Sharon. ?ncient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. New York:
Macmillan, 1994.
µ µ Lanham, Richard A. ? Handlist of Rhetorical Terms. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1967.
µ µ Nash, Walter. Rhetoric. Cambridge: Basil Blackwell Inc., 1989.
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