Ethos, pathos, logos

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 6

Ethos, pathos, logos

What Are Ethos, Pathos and Logos?

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are three strategies commonly employed when attempting to persuade a reader.

Ethos

Ethos is used to convey the writer’s credibility and authority. When evaluating a piece of writing, the reader must know if the writer is qualified to comment on this issue. The writer can communicate their authority by using credible sources; choosing appropriate language; demonstrating that they have fairly examined the issue (by considering the counterargument); introducing their own professional, academic or authorial credentials; introducing their own personal experience with the issue; and using correct grammar and syntax.

Pathos

Pathos, or the appeal to emotion, means to persuade an audience by purposely evoking certain emotions to make them feel the way the author wants them to feel. Authors make deliberate word choices, use meaningful language, and use examples and stories that evoke emotion. Authors can desire a range of emotional responses, including sympathy, anger, frustration, or even amusement.

Logos

Logos, or the appeal to logic, means to appeal to the audiences’ sense of reason or logic. To use logos, the author makes clear, logical connections between ideas, and includes the use of facts and statistics. Using historical and literal analogies to make a logical argument is another strategy. There should be no holes in the argument, also known as logical fallacies, which are unclear or wrong assumptions or connections between ideas.

Sample Paragraph

Imagine this: a small dog sits in a dark, cold garage. His hair is matted and dirty; he is skinny and weak from going days without food. There is no water for him to drink, no person to give him love and no blanket to keep him warm at night.1 While this might be a hard scenario to imagine, it is not an uncommon one in America today. According to the Humane Society of the United States, nearly 1,000,000 animals are abused or die from abuse every year.2 As a veterinarian with 30 years of experience, I have seen how even one incident of abuse can affect an animal for the rest of its life.3 As a society, we need to be more aware of this terrible problem and address this issue before it gets worse.

1Pathos: the author paints a vivid picture to evoke a feeling from the reader—sadness and pity for the abused animal.

2Logos: the author uses a startling statistic to appeal to our intellect. Keep in mind that these three strategies can often overlap. This sentence qualifies as both Logos and Ethos because it cites a reputable organization, so we know the author is using credible sources.

3Ethos: the author establishes their own credibility by stating their occupation and experience.>

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’

King wrote this open letter in April 1963 while he was imprisoned in the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama. When he read a statement issued in the newspaper by eight of his fellow clergymen, King began to compose his response, initially writing it in the margins of the newspaper article itself.

In ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’, King answers some of the criticisms he had received from the clergymen in their statement, and makes the case for nonviolent action to bring about an end to racial segregation in the South.

Assignment

Read the first pages of 'Letter from Birmingham Jail' and try and identify ethos, pathos and logos.

On the next slide you'll find part of a colour-coded rhetorical analysis of the letter and more explanation and the following slide.

Compare your findings with these analyses and explanations.

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