Sp Cm 212 Fundamentals of Public Speaking
Preparation Outline
Lecture 9M
The Persuasive Speech: Answering the Audience's Questions:
Developing Ethos, Logos and Pathos, using Testimony, Reasoning and Examples
As a speaker attempting to persuade has the responsibility to answer all the audience's
doubts and objections. Now you have a Policy topic, and have analyzed it to figure out the basic
questions your audience is going to ask about the Problem that needs solving, the Plan you are
proposing, and why you think it's Practical. Today we consider the next step in preparing to give
a persuasive speech: figuring out the answers that will satisfy the audience's doubts and
objections. We will look at:
I. The three basic answers you can give in reply to your audience's questions: Ethos,
Logos and Pathos.
II. Three basic methods for developing these answers: Expert testimony, Statistics, and
Examples.
I. To answer your audience's reasonable doubts and objections, you can ask them to rely on your
logos, your ethos, and your pathos.
A. Logos Ethos and Pathos are the three basic modes of proof first formulated by the
ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, in his book on Rhetoric.
1. Logos refers to reasoning.
a. The English word "logic" derives from the Greek word "logos."
b. You use logos when you appeal to reason, developing strong arguments
for your claims.
2. Ethos refers to character—in specific, the character of the speaker.
a. The English word "ethics" derives from the Greek word "ethos"—
b. You use ethos when you appeal to your audience to trust your character
as person who is knowledgeable and concerned for their welfare.
3. Pathos refers to emotion—in specific, to the emotions the speaker can arouse
in the audience.
a. We've borrowed the word "pathos" in English.
b. You use pathos when you arouse an emotion which compels the
audience in a certain direction—whether anger, pity, shame, excitement,
pride, or curiosity.
B. Logos, Ethos and Pathos are familiar from everyday life.
1. The bridge of the starship Enterprise had logos (Spock), ethos (Kirk) and
pathos (McCoy) represented on it!
2. Each of the three appeals centers in on one of the three parts of the basic
communication transaction.
a. Logos focuses on the words.
b. Ethos focuses on the speaker.
c. Pathos focuses on the hearer.
3. We have been focusing on Ethos in this class from the very first speech, where
we asked you to introduce yourself to your classmates, and to present yourself as
wearing one of your many "hats."
4. There are also familiar ethical problems with appealing to emotions.
a. In general, we think that reason is superior to emotion as a way of
making decisions.
b. But at the same time, the work of Dr. Antonio Damasio has
demonstrated that people without emotions have severe difficulties
making social and practical decisions.
c. My brother experienced this in trying to decide where to go to college.
He made up long lists of reasons why each school was better than the
other, but couldn't make a decision until he engaged his feelings.
d. While reasoning helps us establish what is true and false, emotions help
us pick out what among the true things is really important, and to motivate
us to act on our beliefs.
[So: How does a speaker build logos, ethos and pathos when she speaks?]
II. There are a variety of methods for developing logos, ethos and pathos in your speeches.
A. In this class, we want you to focus on three main methods for developing your logos,
ethos and pathos, namely statistics, expert testimony and examples.
1. Statistics—quantifiable facts about the world—give your audience strong
evidence as to what is true and false.
2. Testimony from experts adds to your own credibility as a speaker—it allows
you to "stand on the shoulders of giants," borrowing their credibility.
3. As we saw in the Informative unit, vivid examples engage the audience and
help them see what the appropriate emotion response is to the facts as you present
them.
4. For example, in my speech:
a. I used statistics about the relative contribution of vehicles to an average
family's CO2 emissions (logos).
b. I drew these statistics from the Environmental Protection Agency
(pathos).
c. And I backed them up also with a vivid example of my (imaginary)
2006 Honda Civic.
B. In addition to these three basic methods, the Lucas textbook suggests 2-4 more ways
of developing each of logos, ethos and pathos.
[Sample speech analysis; how to answer exam questions.]
C. Ideally, all three of logos, ethos, and pathos should be used in tandem.
1. Ethos allows the audience to trust you, logos assures them of the facts, and
pathos moves them towards an answer.
2. The best persuasive speech weaves logos, ethos and pathos together into a tight
fabric.
3. Therefore one basic rule of thumb for your own persuasive speech is to use
one set of statistics, one piece of expert testimony, and one vivid example for each
of your main claims on the Problem, Plan and Practicality issues.
4. Then your speech will win out in the end, just like the starship Enterprise did
every time.
D. Each of your appeals should be developed fully by imagining the questions your
audience will ask and answering them fully, in advance.
1. Pretend you are a mildly skeptical listener of your own speech, and examine
every sentence you want to say.
2. Whenever you spot a questionable assertion, improve it—answer the
audience's question before it is even asked!
3. For example, earlier in this lecture I cited Dr. Antonio Damasio. You may
have been thinking: "So what? Who is that guy anyhow?" What I should have
told you is that Dr. Damasio is the Director of the Brain & Creativity Institute at
the University of California, and author of three books and numerous articles
about the neurology of emotions.
4. Each kind of appeal can be developed in this way.
1. When to establish ethos you rely on expert testimony, your audience is
likely to ask "So what? Who is that guy anyways?"—a question you can
answer by outlining the person's credentials.
2. When to establish logos you rely on statistics, your audience is likely to
ask "So what? How much is that, really?"—a question you can answer by
the methods of comparing and contrasting which we discussed in the
Informative unit.
3. When to establish pathos you give an example, your audience is likely
to ask "What happened, anyways? Can you fill me in on the details"—a
question you can answer by developing the example with vivid details.
[In sum:] Everything in the Persuasive Unit seems to come in threes.
There are three basic questions you can expect your audience to ask: about Problem,
Plan & Practicality.
There are three basic answers you can give: Logos, Ethos, & Pathos.
And for each of these, there is a basic form of support: statistics, expert testimony &
examples.
Master these threes, and your persuasive speech will be powerful!