ETHOS: Good sense, good moral character, goodwill
Aristotle, On Rhetoric: Book II, Chapter 1
http://rhetoric.eserver.org/aristotle/rhet2-1.html
...since rhetoric exists to affect the giving of decisions...the orator must not only try to make the
argument of his speech demonstrative and worthy of belief; he must also make his own character
look right and put his hearers, who are to decide, into the right frame of mind.
...
There are three things which inspire confidence in the orator's own character -- the three,
namely, that induce us to believe a thing apart from any proof of it: good sense, good moral
character, and goodwill. False statements and bad advice are due to one or more of the following
three causes. Men either form a false opinion through want of good sense; or they form a true
opinion, but because of their moral badness do not say what they really think; or finally, they are
both sensible and upright, but not well disposed to their hearers, and may fail in consequence to
recommend what they know to be the best course. These are the only possible cases. It follows that
any one who is thought to have all three of these good qualities will inspire trust in his audience.
MENTAL HABITS: The habits of someone with good sense:
Examples:
Demonstrates strong understanding of subject matter
Cites respected sources
Uses accepted facts and numbers/stats (not just opinions and stories)
Acknowledges and addresses counterarguments/competing evidence
Reasons clearly and thoroughly
MORAL HABITS: The habits of someone with good moral character:
Virtues:
Justice
Courage
Temperance
Generosity
Magnanimity
Magnificence
Prudence
Other?
EMOTIONAL HABITS: The habits of someone with goodwill towards the audience:
Ethos
Pathos
Hauser's
mental,
moral, and
emotional
habits
Hauser's analysis of ethos in Aristotle: pp. 158-159
Remembering that the central issue that rhetoric addresses is what transpires during the speaking-listening or
writing-reading transaction, we have focused on the ethos of the rhetor as an interpretation rather than as an
existential attribute. We can draw three conclusions about how ethos as an interpretation is formed in rhetoric.
First, ethos grows from arguments and exhortations that are relevant to the subject. Except in rare cases when
an individual speaks about himself, as when President Clinton spoke about his relationship with Monica
Lewinsky, ethos is not established through direct appeal. Ethos is established by inference. We get a
reputation for good reasoning and prudent judgment by demonstrating the appropriate mental, moral, and
emotional habits in the types of appeals we make.
TRANSLATION:
Second, ethos is the product of interaction between our disposition to respond, as we reveal it in our speaking
and writing, and the special needs of our audience. Audiences evaluate habits in terms of their own views of
the good life. That is why it is important to address topics from our audience's point of view. Our rhetoric
directs audience members to see us in a particular way, but at the same time they bring their own agenda of
concerns to bear in forming their responses. if we become an authority for our audience, it is because our
mutual interaction has led to a pattern of interpretation appropriate in the given case.
TRANSLATION:
Finally, a rhetorical analysis of ethos avoids trait ascriptions as qualities that communicators actually posses. A
rhetorical analysis focuses on ethos as a judgment that is caused by the speech itself. If we regularly meet our
audience's needs by being informed, interesting, succinct, and focused on its concerns, we will encourage
members to perceive us as someone whose views should be taken seriously. Their impression of us is an
interpretation, a social construct, not an entity. Ethos is eventful in this respect, as is all rhetoric, occurring in the
context of a response to a rhetorical demand. It is time-bound, confined to the configuration of a speaker,
speech, and audience in a given case. Each new situation calls anew for each rhetor to re-establish ethos
through discourse.
TRANSLATION: