Home - Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, the Modes of Persuasion ‒ Explanation and Examples

• Greek word for both “suffering” and “experience”
• the emotional appeal; empathy and pathetic are derived from pathos
• persuading an audience by appealing to their emotions
• you invoke sympathy—making the audience feel what you them to feel

COMMON USES

1. Drawing pity from an audience
2. Inspiring anger from an audience, perhaps in order to prompt action

DEVELOPING PATHOS

• Meaningful language
• Emotional tone
• Emotion-evoking examples
• Stories of emotional events
• Implied meanings

• Greek word for “word”; true definition is closely described as “the word or that by which the inward thought is expressed" & "the inward thought itself"
• appeal to reason; logic is derived from logos
• convincing by use of logic or reason
• you cite facts & statistics, historical & literal analogies, and certain authorities on a subject

DEVELOPING LOGOS

1. Using advanced, theoretical or abstract language
2. Citing facts (fundamental!)
3. Using historical and literal analogies
4. Constructing logical arguments

Stanford Commencement Speech by Steve Jobs. June 12, 2005.

OBSERVATIONS

1. The speaker built his character by telling his hardships while establishing his company.
2. The speaker used appropriate language and vocabulary for the audience and topic.
3. The speaker sounded someone reliable, influential, and passionate.
4. The speaker introduced and laid out his accomplishments while not sounding biased.
5. The speakers knows how to utilize words and used good grammar + syntax.

I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr. August 28th, 1963.

OBSERVATIONS

1. The material used an effective hook, building that emotional appeal.
2. Good use of vocabulary and emotion-evoking examples.
3. The emotional tone is great, no monotonous voice.
4. The stories of emotional events are implied with the examples and well-placed in the material.
5. The input of the implied meanings is a good bridge to to closing the material, in hopes of a better tomorrow.

"However, although private final demand, output, and employment have indeed been growing for more than a year, the pace of that growth recently appears somewhat less vigorous than we expected. Notably, since stabilizing in mid-2009, real household spending in the United States has grown in the range of 1 to 2 percent at annual rates, a relatively modest pace. Households' caution is understandable. Importantly, the painfully slow recovery in the labor market has restrained growth in labor income, raised uncertainty about job security and prospects, and damped confidence. Also, although consumer credit shows some signs of thawing, responses to our Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices suggest that lending standards to households generally remain tight."

The Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy by Ben Bernanke. August 27th, 2010.

OBSERVATIONS

1. The logos is well-applied.
2. The author used terms fitting the topic.
3. The citation of facts and the use of historical and literal analogies are commendable.
4. Arguments are well-presented.
5. The closing apparently provokes using critical-thinking.