Critical Thinking Exercise - Shireen Moussa

Rhetoric is an act of persuasion. Aristotle believes that the most persuasive technique is the truth. He taught others that rhetoric is to be used for persuasion and not manipulation and that it is to be done ethically. When using rhetoric for persuasion, it is important to recognize the rhetorical triangle. The rhetorical triangle includes the speaker, the subject, and the person being addressed. This triangle also demonstrates the three modes of persuasion, logos, ethos, and pathos. The author must embody all parts of the triangle. The speaker must exhibit ethos through their credibility. The subject must encompass logos by making logical sense. The appeal to the audience must use pathos to be persuasive. When these three parts come together, a persuasive speech can be delivered. Of the three sections of the rhetorical triangle, the audience is the most important. I will demonstrate my argument of the role of audience in the rhetorical triangle throughout the essay.

Logos, ethos, and pathos are essential components used in advertising. By learning to recognize logos, ethos, and pathos in advertising, we are able to understand the message and what is being portrayed. (Albert et al, 2014), suggested that Aristotle postulated that a speaker’s ability to effectively convince an audience is constructed on how well the speaker appeals to that audience in three different areas: logos, ethos, and pathos. These appeals together form what Aristotle calls a rhetorical triangle.

While the media might not directly contribute to discrimination, the media is undoubtedly a significant aspect of modern day society that influences how people think about racial issues (Royce, 2009, p. 1, 17). Many people claim that racism no longer exists; however, the minorities’ struggle with injustice is ubiquitous. Whites are attempting to keep blacks and other minority families locked into an impoverished political and economic position by using various tactics to isolate them, such as mass incarceration that stems from the War on Drugs. The New Jim Crow helps us in seeing how history is repeating itself and how to legalized discrimination among the blacks and Hispanics by implementing the mass incarceration.

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

When it comes to writing and speaking, there are many aspects that make up sophisticated rhetoric. There is the rhetorical triangle and the rhetorical appeals. The rhetorical triangle demonstrates who the author is, who the audience is, and what the purpose is. The rhetorical appeals are pathos, ethos, and logos. All of these together are core components.

The language of rhetoric is the art to persuade an audience. Writers and speakers often use rhetoric appeals. Rhetoric uses four different approaches to capture its audience’s attention: pathos, logos, ethos and kairos. Pathos based its appeal on provoking strong emotion from an audience. Ethos builds its appeal based on good moral character of the writer or speaker and relies on good sense and good will to influence its audience. Logos persuades its audience through the use of deductive and inductive reasoning. The kairos approach requires a combination of creating and recognizing the right time and right place for making the argument in the first place. All of these appeals are important tools, and can be used together or apart to persuade an audience.

Ethos, logos, and pathos are Aristotelian models of persuasion in writing. They are mainly used in writing in order to prove a point to an audience. These can be found in many forms of media: television, radio, and newspaper articles, for example. Ethos is used to establish moral character of the speaker, logos is used to present a sound argument to an audience with facts and figures, and pathos is used to persuade an audience with high emotions. Pathos helps reduce an audience’s ability to judge a situation by using figurative speech. It evokes the emotional side of a person, whether it be with pity or with fear or, in this case, sorrow.

With the use of the Aristotle Rhetorical Triangle, Bernard Roth proves that reasons are bull shit. Now, what is the rhetorical triangle exactly? The rhetorical triangle is made up of three different parts of persuasion. The first is ethos, which is also usually known as the author’s credibility. The second is pathos, where the author uses emotion or language to grab your attention. And finally is logos, therefore using logic to persuade. In the chapter, Reasons are Bull Shit of the book The Achievement Habit, Bernard Roth proves that reasons are bull shit by using ethos, pathos, and logos of the Aristotle Rhetorical Triangle.

Rhetoric’s are used to effectively convince the audience of a certain idea. Ethos, is when one’s status or

Along with Aristotle’s philosophical and scientific interests, he was a master of reasoning who proposed many theories still believed and used to this day. Over time, the philosophies he had taught were further expanded, hence Classical Rhetoric; he would write important, detailed texts about the basics of these notable ideas he fathered -- one of which is Rhetoric. In this text, composed of three books and total of sixty chapters, he introduces the rhetorical triangle. Each point in the triangle - ethos, pathos, and logos - holds a certain value in the context of communication, simultaneously influencing the others creating a trilateral relationship. The devices used in classical rhetoric are modern additions to the basic Aristotelian Rhetoric

Chapter 16 is about critical thinking and moral arguments. Critical thinking is a mode of thinking in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. A moral argument is an argument with a conclusion that expresses a moral claim. Logic is rational thoughts and formats tool or ways of reasoning. Formal logic is the use of deductive reasoning and is a structured argument with a set of premises and one conclusion.

The Author, Audience, Purpose triangle is a visible representation of the nature of persuasive writing. Evidently, all the factors contribute or coincide in references to rhetoric. The whole purpose of rhetoric is to argue or persuade an individual with the use of rhetorical devices. When a speaker describes rhetoric of the rhetorical devices as merely facts, emotions, or positions of authority they are missing the most important factor that is needed to persuade and that is the AUDIENCE. An audience is a huge part in trying to convey or persuade someone’s views. Without a specific audience you might as well be singing to the choir.

Rhetorical Triangle is the active correlation between the speaker, the audience, and the situation of a presentation or speech. The rhetorical triangle determines the success of a presentation or speech. When a speech executes the three primary elements of the speaker, the audience, and the situation in balance the Rhetorical Triangle is effectively complete. It is important for a speaker to give equal relevance to all three elements to have a successful result. The Rhetorical Triangle has three equal elements that create the triangular depiction. The speaker element involves the person giving “an oral message to the listener” (Lucas, 2008, p. 17).