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Introduction to Logos Pathos Ethos

For each video, take some notes and use this handout as a guide. We will review as a class.

Video: “How to use rhetoric to get what you want”

  • Purpose of rhetoric: 
    • The art of seeing the available means of persuasion
  • Aristotle’s contributions:
    • Rhetoric as defined by Aristotle
      • how to get what you want using your words
  • Forensic: 
    • fast judgments about the past using current information
  • Epideictic:
    • proclamation about the current situation
  • Symbouleutikon:
    • How to frame a possible future and how to go about achieving it.
    • deliberative persuasion
    • Ethos
      • Appeal to wisdom and credibility
      • Credibility of disinterest.
        • not a member of the issue at hand
        • has little to gain or lose from the topic debated.
    • Logos
      • Logic and reasoning
      • Examples of rhetorical devices:
        • statistics
        • analysis
        • facts
        • analogies
        • examples
      • use factual knowledge to persuade.
    • Pathos
      • appeal to emotion
      • inherently neutral
      • Most advertising relies on pathos
  • Significance of audience and purpose:
    • Notice when these methods of persuasion are being used on you.
    • knowing when to use each rhetorical element
  • Significance of time and place:
    • when they're being used against you.
  • Understanding both of these contributes to the effectiveness of speech.

Video: “What Aristotle and Joshua Bell can teach us about persuasion”

  • Joshua Bell is considered one of the greatest violinists in the world. His minimum fee for playing a concert is $75,000.

  • Washington Post Subway Experiment: Joshua Bell set up a spot in the subway to play for passersby. The experiment was videotaped on a hidden camera; of the 1,097 people who passed by, seven stopped to listen to him, and one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the one who recognized him).

  • Logos:

    • Idea makes sense from the audience's point of view
    • good argument is like good music
    • makes sense to the audience

  • Pathos:

    • stories
    • sometimes the audience is not ready
    • the speaker should create and environment where the audience can learn
    • no emotional bond between performer and listener in a subway

  • Ethos:

    • reputation
    • credibility
    • trustworthy
    • authority
    • the subway does not have great trust for great art

How much do I rely on other institutions to tell me what is high quality and not? - just because the concert hall is hosting a musician, doesn't mean that anyone outside the concert hall is worse - How do institutions influence my belief on what is credible and what isnt. -