Question

explain the 3 persuasive appeals suggested by Aristotle in your own words. support each with an elaborative example.

Answer 1

The Three Persuasive Appeals suggested by Aristotle:

The three Persuasive Appeals as coined by Aristotle are Ethos, Pathos, and Logos and are all represented by Greek words. They are modes of persuasion used to convince audiences.

ETHOS:

In brief, ETHOS is:

Are you credible?

---Does the audience respect you?

---Does the audience believe you are of good character?

---Does the audience believe you are generally trustworthy?

---Does the audience believe you are an authority on the topic?

Ethos, or the appeal to ethics, refers to the effort to convince the audience of one's credibility or character. Prior to convincing the audience to agree or accept something we say, it is necessary that the audience accepts us. Irrespective of whether we are creating a flier, presenting something, applying for a job, or training at a workshop, people would not be persuaded unless they trust you. When it comes to communication, trust can be built in a number of ways. It is totally upto the individual to understand how one needs to respond in a particular situation and adapt accordingly.

When used correctly, ethical appeal helps the writer/speaker to portray himself as:

---Well-informed about the topic

---Confident in his or her position

---Sincere and honest

---Understanding of the reader's concerns and possible objections

---Humane and considerate

---On the side of the just and right cause

When used incorrectly, ethical appeals causes the writer/speaker to appear:

---Unfair or dishonest

---To distort or misrepresent information (biased)

---Insulting or dismissive of other viewpoints

---Advocating intolerant ideas

Ethos can be promoted by:

---Choosing appropriate language & vocabulary, which is, certainly dependent on the audience and the topic.

---By being honest with one's own opinions and views or thoughts.

---By paying attention to one's own body language and the way one dresses.

---For digital presence we need to pay attention to design details, functionality, content, etc.

---By documenting on the areas of one's expertise.

Ethos finally, may be hard to acquire and maintain, sometimes it may take years to build a strong, credible reputation which can be lost in minutes.

An Example:

A speaker should always appear to have the appropriate expertise or authority to speak knowledgeably about the subject matter. Ethos is an important factor in advertising, both for commercial products and in politics. For example, when an actor in a pain reliever commercial puts on a doctor's white coat, the advertisers are hoping that wearing this coat will give the actor the authority to talk persuasively about medicines. Of course, in this case the actor's ethos is a deceptive illusion.

Another example could be that it is very common to see that student writers often have a problem with ethos because they are often asked to write research papers, reports, and other types of texts as if they have authority to speak persuasively, when in fact they are newcomers to the subject matter and the discourse community. Sometimes students try to create an academic image for themselves by using a thesaurus to find difficult and unusual words to sprinkle throughout their texts. Unfortunately, this sort of effort usually fails, because it is difficult to use a word correctly that you have not heard or read in context many times.

PATHOS:

Can you create emotional connections?

---Do your words evoke feelings?

---Do your visuals evoke emotional responses?

Pathos, or the appeal to emotions, refers to the effort to persuade the audience by making an appeal to their feelings. Depending on our emotional state, we may be more or less inclined to adopt a particular belief. A master of persuasion must know how to make these emotions arise and, perhaps more importantly, disappear. An audience is more receptive to being persuaded by someone with whom they can identify. Pathos can be used in a variety of ways to promote positive, as well as negative feelings, as it is the Greek word for referring both to “suffering” and “experience”. When one uses pathos to persuade the audience, one needs to make them feel an emotion in order to act. Any emotion can cause people to act, including happiness, compassion, nostalgia, anger, even in a small scale.

When used correctly, emotional appeals:

---Reinforce logical arguments

---Use diction and imagery to create a bond with the reader in a human way

---Appeal to idealism, beauty, humor, nostalgia, pity, or other emotions in a balanced way are presented in a fair manner

---Are designed to sympathize or empathize, nor manipulate

When used improperly, emotional appeals:

---Become a substitute for logic and reason

---Uses stereotypes to pit one group of people against another (propaganda)

---Offers a simple, unthinking reaction to a complex problem

---Takes advantage of emotions to manipulate, through fear, hate, pity, prejudice, embarrassment, lust, rather than to convince credibly.

Pathos can be promoted by:

---Using simple and meaningful language, which is easy to grasp for the audience.

---Emotional tone of voice, both in oral or in written form.

---Using pauses and emotional metaphors..

---Emotional connection can be created most notably by stories. The goal of a story, anecdote, analogy and metaphor is often to link an aspect of our core message with a triggered emotional response from the audience.

We must remember that, however, most people are aware of when we are trying to touch their emotions and hence, it must be done with great cautiousness and responsibleness. Generally, pathos is most effective when used during the introduction and/or the conclusion. We would want to grab the readers' attention in the beginning and to leave them with conviction at the end, and undoubtedly, emotion is a powerful tool for such purposes.

An Example:

Many political decisions have an emotional motivation. For example, when a gunman with an assault rifle shot up a schoolyard full of children, people were suddenly interested in banning such weapons. In this case, several emotions are involved, but perhaps the strongest one is pity for the small children and their families. The logical arguments for banning or not banning assault rifles had not changed at all, but people were emotionally engaged with the issue after this tragic event and wanted to do something.

Many advertisements for consumer goods aim at making us insecure about our attractiveness or social acceptability, and then offer a remedy for this feeling in the form of a product. This is a common strategy for selling mouthwash, toothpaste, chewing gum, clothing, and even automobiles.

LOGOS:

Are you logical in your argument?

---Does your message make sense?

---Is your message based on facts, data and evidence?

---Will your call-to-action lead to the desired outcome that you promise?

Logos, or the appeal to logic, refers to the effort to convince the audience by using logic and reason. Effective arguments should include testimonials, surveys and other supporting details to back up one's claims and positions or views on a given topic. Logos encourages documentation of one's point through storytelling, logical arguments, facts, recorded evidence, historical data and literal analogies.

When used correctly, logical appeal contains the following elements:

---Strong, clear claims

---Reasonable qualifiers for claims

---Warrants / case studies that are valid

---Clear reasons for claims *

---Strong evidence (facts, statistics, personal experience, expert authority, interviews, observations, quotes, anecdotes, etc.)

---Acknowledgement of the opposition

When used poorly, logical appeals may include:

---Over-generalized claims

---Reasons that are not fully explained or supported

---Logical fallacies

---Evidence of misused or ignored data

---No recognition of opposing views

---When using logos to persuade, one needs to ensure that there are enough facts, stories and information that support one's take on the particular topic and also matter to the audience. These must be presented in a way that makes sense to the audience as well as does justice to whatever ideas are being presented.

An Example:

For example, when Bubonic Plague swept through Europe and parts of Asia in the 14th century, killing as much as three quarters of the population in less than 20 years, it was not known how the disease was spread. At one point, people thought that the plague was spread by cats. People began to assume that cats spread the disease, and as an obvious solution to the problem, people began killing cats on sight. However, we now know that the plague is spread by fleas which live on rats. Because cats kill rats, killing off the cat population led to an increase of plague in humans. Killing off the cats was a logical solution to the problem of the plague, but it was based upon a faulty assumption.

Coclusion:

In a sentence, to be an effective persuader, one needs to utilize all three pillars of persuasion: ethos, logos, and pathos.

For example, ethos could be used in the beginning to set up one's credibility and to help the audience relate to whatever ideas are being presented. Logos, or logic, could be used to argue and build strong points. Then, one can finish up with pathos, or the emotional appeal as people will act based on their emotions, and that is, after all, our ultimate goal.