The Greek philosopher Aristotle identified three fundamental strategies for persuading an
Audience — English teachers may call these strategies “rhetorical appeals.” Everyone
who reads or writes arguments should be able to recognize these:
1. Logos is the appeal to logic or reason.
2. Ethos is the appeal based on ethics, which establishes the credibility of the author.
3. Pathos is the appeal to the emotions of the audience.
Strong arguments always use at least one of these strategies, and often it’s effective to use
two or all three of them.
Logos: Reason like a Pro
Logos is the use of logic or reason to persuade your audience. The chief forms of logos
are inductive and deductive arguments.
An inductive argument moves from the particular to the general. First you present
evidence of a particular phenomenon by describing a set of cases. Then you conclude that
your evidence indicates a general rule. For example: Several state governors who have
attempted to take collective bargaining rights away from teachers encountered backlashes
with big drops in their favorable ratings. So if additional governors try to take away
collective bargaining, they will also become less popular in their states.
Strategies for Arguing: Logos, Ethos and Pathos
A deductive argument moves from the general to the particular. First you present a
general rule. Then you draw a conclusion about how the general rule applies to the
specific situation that is your focus. One common type of deductive argument is a
syllogism, a chain of reasoning in which a conclusion is inferred from two premises:
- Major premise: Every man is mortal.
- Minor premise: Socrates is a man.
- Conclusion: Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
Here’s an example of a deductive argument that you might see in a class essay:
The postseason playoff system works efficiently to determine the best team each year in
nearly all American pro and college team sports like basketball, baseball, hockey and
lacrosse. So if the NCAA allows it, playoffs will be an effective method for college
football as well.
In this example the author begins with the large claim that efficient playoff systems are a
nearly universal feature of U.S. team sports. From this general situation, she draws the
specific conclusion that a playoff system would work just as well in college football.
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Ethos: Got Authority?
Ethos, or the ethical appeal, is based on the author’s character and credibility. You
bolster your ethos by demonstrating competence, honesty, and, when appropriate,
compassion. Here are some of the best ways to establish and maintain a strong element of
ethos in your communications:
1. Use credible research to show that you’re knowledgeable about your subject.
2. Cite all of your source material, whether it’s quoted or paraphrased.
Strategies for Arguing: Logos, Ethos and Pathos
3. Describe opposing views accurately, acknowledging their merits—don’t simply
dismiss or ridicule views that are different from yours. Showing too much antagonism
could cause you to lose big parts of your audience.
4. Use Rogerian methods to establish common ground with your audience—show how
you share their values and how you might desire similar outcomes even when you
disagree about how to achieve them. Psychologist Carl Rogers presumes that if author
and audience find common ground regarding an issue or problem, they will be more
likely to find, or agree upon, a common solution.
5. If you have personal experience connected to your topic, you might describe how your
interest originated from that experience and gave you knowledge that bolsters your
authority.
6. Organize your argument in a way that will make it easy for your audience to follow.
Treating your readers with respect will make that respect mutual.
7. Another pivotal way to treat your readers with respect is to proofread your writing
carefully. Even a few careless errors can make you seem less credible and less concerned
with the experience of your audience.
Pathos: Tug those Heartstrings
Pathos is an appeal to the emotions of your audience. Although some might say that
emotions are irrational and don’t belong in logical argument, careful appeals to the
emotions of your readers can have powerful persuasive effects. For example, say you’re
writing a paper supporting gun control laws. Of course you’ll want to make use of logos
by citing hard data that indicates how gun control laws can prevent tragic violence
against innocent people—statistics that show lower rates of gun violence in states or
nations with stricter gun control laws would be one effective kind of evidence to use. But
such hard data, while it has its strengths, does not dramatize the human side of your issue
the way that a particular story of a tragedy might. In the beginning of a paper like this,
you’ll need to quickly garner the attention of your readers while also making them aware
of the gravity of your topic. You could do so by describing a gun violence tragedy that
might have been prevented by stricter gun control laws:
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One chilly March morning last year, after Christina Henderson kissed her husband
goodbye and dropped off her eight-year-old daughter Sarah at school, she stopped at a
local convenience store to grab a donut and coffee before work. As Christina approached
the store’s checkout counter, Arnold Mayer entered the store brandishing the Glock 9mm
pistol he’d bought at a gun show just the day before. Because her state’s lax gun
regulations had allowed this convicted felon to acquire a firearm so easily, Christina
would never taste that coffee, and she would never see her husband or daughter again.
If the outcome of such a case were different, pathos could be used to make an argument
against stricter gun control laws. For instance, a student arguing in support of laws
permitting concealed carrying of firearms might write this sort of opening:
One chilly March morning last year, after Christina Henderson kissed her husband
goodbye and dropped off her eight-year-old daughter Sarah at school, she went on to her
job as cashier at a local convenience store. Christina had just begun ringing up customers
when convicted felon Arnold Mayer entered the store and shoved his Glock 9mm
handgun into her face. But because her state’s gun laws allowed law-abiding citizens to
carry firearms for protection, a quick-thinking customer pulled his weapon and shot
Mayer in the buttocks, after which another customer was able to disarm the would-be
robber. Christina returned home safely to her family later that day.
In persuasive writing, pathos does need to be used very carefully. You’ll want to avoid
sloppy sentimentality or emotionalism that seems manipulative. Remember that you’re
not writing a schmaltzy melodrama—you’re devising ways to illuminate the complex
truths of a certain issue and to defend your point of view. Your prime objective in an
argument is always to persuade your audience, and every rhetorical strategy that you
employ should be geared to that purpose.
Author: Bob Finegan. From the website 11trees.com
Modified by John Baker on 8/13/12
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