Real Rhetoric

Ethos, logos, pathos.

These are words I’ve known since my sophomore year of high school, and their definitions have been imbedded into my brain. What exactly do these three phrases mean though? What is their purpose? Once learning about these rhetorical devices, I was able to analyze the conversations I would have daily and to my shock, they would pop up in every one.

Ethos. Ethos represents ethical appeal, or more simply put, how credible an author is. We may not realize, but even every day in class, no matter which subject we are being taught, ethos is being used by our teacher. They have specialized in teaching their specific subjects, and their credibility can come from their major and years of experience they already have with the subject. Outside school, ethos is still applied to any setting as simple things like weather forecasts are reliable as we’ve seen someone such as Dallas Raines forecast the news for years on end. We are able to trust sources with information that will affect our daily lives because they have been doing it reliably for years.

Pathos. Pathos is the most important rhetorical device in my opinion. Pathos, in short, is the appeal to emotions. As humans, I believe emotions are very easy to toy with, and much of our decision making can come from our emotions. By being able to manipulate one’s emotions, you are able to change their opinions about a certain subject matter and make a situation more favorable towards yourself. The way in which one can edit their tone, possibly choking up while talking, can definitely influence one’s mindset. Personally, I have definitely used pathos to get something I wanted from my parents, such as crying as a child when I couldn’t get a happy meal from McDonalds or a toy from Target. At the same time, people have used pathos to get me to do something, such as a friend asking me for food since he forgot his at home, and is hungry. Pathos is truly the most powerful rhetorical device based on the way in which it can influence somebody.

Logos. Logos is the logical approach to an argument, and is backed up with factual evidence. People can make arguments by using statistics to back it up. An example could be a debate between student bodies. Both parties use factual evidence and statistics in order to strengthen their own arguments, and to counter the other team’s argument at the same time. Using facts is an effective way to convince an audience that you did extensive research on a topic and can build credibility for yourself.

By applying ethos, pathos, and logos in our daily lives, we can see how our arguments are created and the effect(s) they have on an audience. Using these rhetorical devices, I am able to create much more convincing arguments on why I deserve an item of clothing for being a good boy 🙂