What are logos, ethos, and pathos?

The origin of Ethos, Pathos and Logos

Aristotle, a well-known student of Plato, mentioned in his famous book “Rhetoric” that a speaker’s ability to convince an interlocutor is built upon how well the speaker attract that listener in three different levels of persuasion: logos, ethos, and pathos. Considered together, these appeals form what later rhetoricians have called the rhetorical triangle, this triangle suggests that ethos, logos and pathos should be employed together to strengthen ideas and arguments. The Greek philosopher defined the three distinct rhetorical appeals as it follows:

Ethos

Ethos appeals to credibility, trust, character, and ethics. To be persuasive, a writer or speaker must be reputable and trusted by their audience. Generally, a person’s credibility relies on the use of reliable sources to support their arguments. For example, here are two arguments with different approaches; which one of these arguments seem more persuasive? 

a) A recent study led by German researchers of the Technical University of Munich found that positive relationships have a pleasant influence over your overall health and longevity. 

b) After taking six days to contemplate my life, I realized that positive relationships have a powerful influence on health. 

Actually, both statements make similar claims. However, the second statement is subjective because it is rooted in personal experience. Whereas the first statement is supported by a trustworthy study led by researchers of a prestigious university. Therefore, this claim is more credible than the second is, and thus more persuasive. It is noticeable that qualifying arguments can be a mighty tool to enhance credibility. To be more explicit, instead of speaking generally, it is advisable to use this kind of expressions: “the research suggests” or “several studies demonstrate”. Qualifying your arguments makes you look like an objective, reasonable and critical thinker, and thus trustworthy. If you appear one-sided and biased, this will impact negatively one’s credibility.

Furthermore, Ethos may be significantly empowered by using relevant words and appropriate expressions. If the speaker or writer uses the language of their audience, they will easily establish a link with the reader or listeners, and this fosters trust and confidence. Moreover, If the targeted audience cherishes some values such as freedom, equality and diversity, then using a quote by Rosa Parks, Mandela or George Washington would be influential in the sense that both the communicator and their audience think the same and share similar values. 

Ethos can also be strengthened by using accurate and sensible counter-arguments because it shows that the speaker or writer is aware of other opinions and willing to demonstrate fairly the logic of different positions, which is a key point in increasing credibility. A fair person is objective and thus credible. 

Last and not least, Ethos is more convincing if the communicator avoids spelling and grammatical mistakes because this sort of mistakes cause them to seem less competent and professional, and this can affect one’s credibility. 

Pathos

The use of emotions through rhetoric is what Aristotle called Pathos. This idea comes from the fact that humans are filled with a myriad of emotions. Whether it is sadness, happiness, fear, anger, confusion, surprise, or disgust, emotions shape our perception of the world and influence how we interpret the others’ actions. Let us take an example: if someone says “If you make efforts to become a successful person, your parents will be proud of you and love you more”; this statement will undoubtedly appeal to people's emotions, especially those who cherish their parents a lot. Most people want to make their parents happy, and this statement caters to that desire. 

To use pathos effectively, the writer should incorporate vivid imagery and intentionally emotional and overwhelming adjectives and verbs. Besides, when speaking, Pathos can be established when the speaker shows emotion and passion for what they are talking about. 

Pathos is prevalent in literary works such as poems, plays, novels and personal essays because it often evokes many feelings in order to attract readers, invite them to connect emotionally with the writer and thus increase their interest and attachment to the author’s work. 

Logos

Logos appeals to the audience's sense of logic and rationality, asking them to be convinced because the argument makes sense. By appealing to the audience with logic, the conclusions drawn by the speaker or writer are sensible and logical, making opposite opinions weak and less persuasive, sometimes even as irrational and absurd. Logos is often supported with scientific facts, proven and real data, statistics, simple and common sense arguments. 

To present a believable and compelling Logos-based speech, the communicator should avoid logical fallacies, lack of connection between ideas and ambiguities. 

For instance, if I want to convince you about the danger of smoking, I will necessarily tell you about the harmful effects of this habit and give you concrete information about the impact of it upon your body and mental health in order to make you know that it is reasonable to quit it in order to avoid dreadful illnesses and stay healthy and safe, which is sensible because no lucid human being will think that getting sick and being tortured because of a fake and ephemeral pleasure is a reasonable thing.

Conclusion

The most effective and persuasive speakers and writers use a subtle combination of the three rhetorical appeals. When the three are used painstakingly, the audience will certainly accept the conveyed message and arrive at the same conclusion. 

Sources : 

https://www.lsu.edu/hss/english/files/university_writing_files/item35402.pdf

https://pressbooks.pub/openrhetoric/chapter/aristotles-rhetorical-appeals/