Aristotle's Rhetorical Triangle
Created by Brett Oppegaard
for Washington State University - Vancouver's
English 402 (Section 5) class, spring 2010
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle
Author / Encoder / Ethos
discourse,
design and
context
Purpose / Message / Logos
Audience / Decoder / Pathos
Author / Encoder / Ethos
Who created this “text”?
What do we know about the author / creator?
What authority does that encode in the message?
What credibility does that encode?
What common ground does that encode?
What level of fairness is encoded?
What questions does that raise in the message?
Purpose / Message / Logos
What is the logical structure of the “message”?
What exactly is being communicated, from each individual
element (take it apart and look at the pieces) to the whole?
Is an idea (or are ideas) presented? Identify those.
Is the information more specific or abstract? Why?
Are you being led a particular direction? How and why?
What examples are used, including precedents?
Who are the sources of information?
Are you being asked to use inductive (collective facts
lead to a conclusion) or deductive reasoning (the law
or general principle leads to a specific example)?
Audience / Decoder / Pathos
Who is this “text” aimed at and through
what emotional connections?
What does the audience know, and need to know?
What emotional appeals are used – from benevolence
(love, pity, belief in fairness, etc.) to malevolence
(greed, lust, envy, etc.)?
What descriptive and metaphoric uses of language
appear? And why were those chosen?
How does the audience feel now, and how is it
supposed to feel after decoding the message?
What response is expected, or hoped for?
discourse,
design and
context
In what ways do the raw materials coalesce and
then interact with time and space?
How does it matter that this communication is happening
right now, in this form, in this place?
How does the selection of parts and the assembly and
manipulation techniques add to the discourse (internal
factors, such as fonts, cropping, colors)?
What cultural, social and/or historical context adds to or
shapes the direction of the discourse (external factors, such
as current events, institutional knowledge)?
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle
Author / Encoder / Ethos
When these are
in balance, the
rhetoric usually
is effective
discourse,
design and
context
Purpose / Message / Logos
When these are
not in balance,
the ability to
persuade
diminishes …
Audience / Decoder / Pathos
Rhetorical Noise
Other ways messages can go awry …
Source: Deborah Barrett
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle
Sources for this presentation:
Aristotle's Rhetoric (Book 1, Chapter 2):
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~honeyl/Rhetoric/rhet1-2.html#1356a
Additional background provided by:
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-rhetoric/#means
Summary by Deborah Barrett (Rice University):
https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/27037/Leadership%20Communication%20%20A%20Communication%20Approach%20for%20Senior-Level%20Managers%20%20Barrett.pdf?sequence=2
Summary by Judith Clayton Van (Arizona State University): http://www.public.asu.edu/~jvanasu/rhettriangle.htm
Summary by Jaclyn Lutzke and Mary Henggeler (University of Indiana:
www.iupui.edu/~uwc/pdf/Rhetorical%20Triangle.pdf