“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives- choice, not chance determines your destiny. -Aristotle (SayingBook)
Through out our lifetime, history has based the foundation of our people. History is a part of mankind, and an essential part of life. Rhetorical Theory has been a base in our communication for centuries, and has made the way humans communicate change drastically. One major contributor to the development of Rhetorical Theory was the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Growing up in northern Greece, Aristotle studied language, music, poetry, and geometry. Aristotle entered Plato’s Academy,
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He divided the means of persuasion in three parts, which were and are the most important parts of rhetoric; ethos which is the study of human character, pathos which is the study of psychology of emotion, and finally logos, which is the study of arguments. With ethos, he taught those to be credible with their audience, it is certain to appear knowledgeable to them, and allow them to trust your words. “Aristotle and Cicero thought that a speaker could only appeal to his ethos within the speech itself and that an orator should spend the first part of his speech establishing his credibility.” (McKay) Pathos, the appeal to emotion, seems to been seen by us through out the day on a daily basis through the media. Aristotle stated a clear-cut meaning with pathos, “putting the audience in the right frame of mind, to make a good decision.”-Aristotle. (Herrick 79) With logos, it simply means to show your audience your intelligence, or to act like it at least. “Aristotle believed logos to be the superior persuasive appeal and that all arguments should be won or lost on reason alone. However, he recognized that at times an audience would not be sophisticated enough to follow arguments based solely on scientific and logical principles and so the other appeals needed to be used as well.” …show more content…
The video clipped I chose to illustrate Aristotle may be very to the point, but it gives the viewer a reminder on who he was, and how important his works with rhetoric truly are. The clip clearly illustrates the meanings behind ethos, pathos, and logos, and puts these works in perspective by also giving the viewer and visual understanding of the artistic proofs. These three creations are the concrete stability of the art of persuasion, and from Aristotle himself, “rhetoric is the counterpart of dialect.” -Aristotle. (Herrick 70) Dialect plays an important part in rhetoric, and it tests out old and new ideas. Since Joshua was only applying his talents while using logos, the listeners were only viewing the intelligent side of his works in the subway. For people to connect, they need to feel the passion, and also the connection with one another. If Joshua were to play in front of the music hall for example, he would be connecting with his audience that has the same interests as him, and he would be able to show his ability else where rather just inside the building. Also, if the people on the street had the same musical interest as him, he would be more recognizable, thus giving him more of an opportunity to show his talents to people who share the same
According to Aristotle, ethos means that the persuader convinces someone else of their character or credibility or appeal to ethics; pathos means the persuader convince the audience of an argument by creating an emotional response or appeal to emotions; and logos means that the persuader is persuading an audience by reason or appeal to logic. Ethos can make a person sound fair or unbiased, person could also introduce their expertise or pedigree, and a person could use the correct grammar and syntax when it comes to using the appropriate language. Pathos can make an audience feel sympathy from the persuader or to make them
In speaking of effective rhetorical persuasion, we must appeal to our target audience in a way that will get them to accept or act upon the point of view we are trying to portray. Aristotle said that we persuade others by three means: (1) by the appeal to their reason (logos); (2) by the appeal to their emotions (pathos); and (3) by the appeal of our personality or character (ethos) (Corbett and Connors 32). When Socrates, an infamous rhetorician, gave his “apology” to his fellow Athenians after being accused of atheism or not believing in the gods and corrupting the youth with similar teachings, he employed all three modes of persuasion to prove his innocence. Despite the
Aristotle also believed that rhetoric can be forensic, epideictic, and deliberative, which is the second division of his work. The art of persuasion and a way of advising about things to come is the best definition of deliberate rhetoric. This pattern has been used throughout the film and it is another obvious appeal to make it more effective and achieve its goals. Aristotle argues that “for using deliberative rhetoric, the speaker needs to consider deterrents, inducements and the motives people have for avoiding or doing the actions in the question”
There are many ways to convey a message to readers. Often times authors, speech writers, etc., refer to Aristotle’s three main concepts of rhetoric, Ethos, Pathos, and Logos. Ethos is considered to be the, “credibility,” of the author. Pathos is the idea of, “emotional appeal,” to the audience. Finally, Logos is the translated as the, “logic,” involved when making a point. All forms of rhetoric have at least one of these concepts, while good arguments incorporate a well balanced mixture of the three.
While Henry’s speech was not particularly long, it packed quite the proverbial punch through its efficacious use of rhetoric and symbolism, and is looked to even today as an example of persuasive oratory. Throughout this paper, Henry’s rhetoric will be analyzed via an Aristotelian method of rhetorical analysis called the “rhetorical triangle.” According to an article on Study.com, written by Diedra Taylor, almost every form of rhetorical device can be categorized as one of the three points on this triangle: “Ethos,” “logos,” and “pathos.” While Aristotle, himself, did not originally postulate a triangular method of examination, he was the first influential intellectual to write about the three points previously mentioned, and because of this, the theory is credited to him. Taylor uses the analogy of a nacho chip to represent a particular piece of rhetoric, and toppings of guacamole, meat, and cheese to represent ethos, logos, and pathos, respectively. While a chip with only one or two of the toppings is still good, it is most delicious with all three in conjunction. The same is true of rhetoric; it is most persuasive when it contains a variety of the three types of devices, all working in concurrence with one another. In addition to this, it is very possible for some rhetorical anecdotes and devices to fall under the umbrella of more than one point on the triangle, but for the purposes of this paper, they will be examined one at a
As first stated by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, the art of rhetoric in persuasive speaking is based upon the usage of the three key components, logos, ethos and pathos. Logos representing the usage of logic and reasoning within the speech or text, ethos representing the writer or speaker’s credibility and pathos representing how the speaker or author establishes an emotional connection with the audience. In former president Bill Clinton’s 2012 democratic national convention he relies heavily upon Aristotle’s persuasive speaking techniques to help convince the participants of the convention and those watching at home to reelect the nominee of the Democratic Party, current
Aristotle wrote that we can be persuaded by three things: reason (logos), the character of the speaker (ethos), and our own emotions (pathos).
Rhetoric is a form of writing that has a persuasive effect on the reader. The term pathos is a quality that evokes emotions and pity. Pathos is used in rhetoric writings because it allows the speaker to make a personal and emotional connection with the reader. Once an emotional connection is made, the speaker has a higher potential in gaining the support of the audience. The term logos means it is an appeal to logic. Logos is used in rhetoric because it enables the speaker to persuade its audience by connecting to their logic, or intellects. The term ethos is a form of persuasion that appeals to ethics and the credibility of the speaker. Ethos is used in rhetoric because it is a way of gaining the audience's trust in the speaker. Essentially,
In Aristotle’s book of collected lectures titled ‘Rhetoric’, Aristotle declares that there are three different ways to persuade a reader. The first way is to appeal to an audience by logical facts or logos. The second way is to appeal to a reader by using mortality or ethos into the writing. Lastly, Aristotle claims that you need emotion or ethos to persuade an audience. In Elizabeth I’s Speech to the troops at Tillbury and Frederick Douglass the Church and Prejudice: Both apply pathos in their speeches in order to gather their supporters behind them.
Aristotle’s rhetorical strategies can help a writer achieve the art of persuasion. John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech is a perfect example of this. In
Aristotle’s Rhetorical Proofs focused on logos, pathos, and ethos. During the debate the two students relied on both logos and ethos to persuade the audience to their viewpoint. Logos are persuading an audience with the use of reasoning or logical
In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Brutus and Antony both uses rhetorical devices to persuade the audience to believe their statements. Antony’s speech is a more effective rhetorician because he uses pathos to connect with people’s emotion, sarcasm to share his true opinion and appeal of logic and emotion to support and to counter Brutus statements. Brutus’s does use ethos to emphasize his points, and repetition to keep the audience’s attention, but he does not have enough logos and pathos. .
However, Aristotle also believed rhetoric to be useful by means of helping audiences visualize, comprehend and enhance truth, “rhetoric is useful, though, because things that are true and things that are just are by nature stronger than their opposites, so if decisions do not come out the appropriate way, it is necessary they have been made weaker by them” (Aristotle, 136). Rhetoric is useful because consisted of a lack of intelligence and education, for ignorance will make convicting a popular crowd much easier. Knowledgeable arguments imply instruction and how to act however, there are some people whom one cannot instruct, and therefore, rhetoric is necessary. “It would not be easy to be persuasive even if we had the most precise knowledge, because speech based on knowledge is something that belongs to teaching, but with some people this is not possible, it is necessary instead for means of persuasion and things shared in common” (Aristotle,
Rhetoric is an art form created before the reign of Gorgias, by Aristotle. As time progressed throughout the ages, Aristotle taught the art of rhetoric to his student Socrates, who eventually taught it to Plato. The art gradually adapted into the rhetoric we use today, providing the reason as to why Plato chooses to recreate the account of Socrates and Gorgias’ discussion. Plato shows us how Socrates’ knowledge of proper usage of rhetoric is vaster than that of Gorgias’. He helps us visualize the various ways he uses rhetoric, to provide the reason for his ability to use rhetoric better than the other Orators. This is illuminated by Socrates’ use of pathos, in his argument of pain and pleasure, the use of ethos in speaking about the comparison of medicine and gymnastics, and his use of logos in his debate on the body and soul. Plato places special consideration into choosing the topics he highlights in the story because of Socrates innate ability to refute these topics the way does.
The five canons are extracted from all three books of the rhetoric and include invention,