Pathos, Logos, Ethos
The power of persuasion
English 3
Parkway North High School
Pomerantz/Wagener
Reaction?
Pathos
Appeals to emotions
Heart
Greek for suffering or experience
Convinces by Appealing to
Audience’s Emotions
O Cute
O Scary
O Sad
O Funny
O Pitiful
O Happy
Pathos Example
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream”
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say
to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of
today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a
dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise
up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We
hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of
Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of
former slave owners will be able to sit down together
at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of
Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of
injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will
be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one
day live in a nation where they will not be judged by
the color of their skin but by the content of their
character.
I have a dream today!
Analyzing Pathos
O What emotions does Dr. King appeal to?
O How does the use of repetition appeal to
emotions?
O Passion of speaker
O Emotions of audience
Reaction?
Chart of Something Important
14
12
10
8
Over 10
5 years to 10
Under 5
6
4
2
0
1st test 2nd test 3rd test 4th test
Logos
Appeals to Logic
head
Greek for word
Logos Example
Ian Ayres, “Looking Out for No. 2”
We don’t have single-sex toilets at home, and
we don’t need them at the office. Then
there’s also the small question of efficiency. I
see my male colleagues waiting in line to use
the men’s room, when the women’s toilet is
unoccupied. Which is precisely why Delta
Airlines doesn’t label those two bathrooms at
the back of the plane as being solely for men
and women. It just wouldn’t fly.
Logos Example cont’d
The University of Chicago just got the 10
single-use restrooms on campus designated
gender neutral. It’s time Yale followed suit.
And this is not just an academic problem.
There are tens of thousands of single-use
toilets at workplaces and public spaces
throughout the nation that are wrong-headedly
designated for a single-sex. All these singleuse toilets should stop discriminating. They
should be open to all on a first-come, first-lock
basis.
Analyzing Logos
O Where does Ayres gather evidence?
O How does he establish precedence?
O What else could he have used to appeal to
the audience’s sense of logic and reason?
Convinces by Appealing to the
Audience’s Sense of Logic
O Facts
O Evidence
O Reason
Reaction?
Ethos
Appeals to Ethics and Credibility
hand
Greek for character
Convinces by Appealing to the
Audience’s Sense of Ethics
O Based on character
of the speaker
O Uses expertise of the
speaker
O Uses evenhandedness of the
speaker
Ethos Example
Nancy Mairs, “On Being a Cripple”
First, the matter of semantics. I am a cripple.
I choose this word to name me. I choose from
among several possibilities, the most common
of which are “handicapped” and “disabled.” I
made the choice a number of years ago,
without thinking, unaware of my motives for
doing so. Even now, I am not sure what those
motives are, but I recognize that they are
complex and not entirely flattering.
People—crippled or not—wince at the word
“cripple,” as they do not at “handicapped” or
“disabled.” Perhaps I want them to wince. I
want them to see me as a tough customer,
one to whom the fates/gods/viruses have not
been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of
her existence squarely. As a cripple, I swagger.
Ethos Analyzed
O How does Mairs establish credibility?
O How does Mairs establish authority?
O How does Mairs establish trustworthiness?
O What role does Mairs’ honesty play in her
ability to persuade her audience?
Aristotle and Rhetoric
O rhetoric is "the ability, in each particular
case, to see the available means of
persuasion."
O three main forms of rhetoric
O Ethos
O Logos
O Pathos
Choices in Rhetoric
O Why would you need all three forms of
rhetoric in an argument?
O Do some rhetorical strategies work better
than others?
O Under what circumstances?
O For what subjects?
O For what kind of audience?
Argumentation
Essential Questions
O How do I persuade others effectively?
O How do I use others’ views in my own
argument?
O Why is it important to cite sources?