The Basics
Ethos, pathos, and logos are the three main modes of persuasion. Aristotle, the person above and to the left, developed these concepts about 2350 years ago in ancient Greece. When you are writing or speaking, it is useful to consider which of the three you are going to use to persuade your audience. Generally, your MATERIALS and METHODS will determine which of these three you evoke.
ETHOS
CREDABILITY/AUTHORITY
Ethos is equated with credibility. In other words, why does the person writing or speaking about a topic have the authority to do so? Ethos is most commonly generated by how properly information is formatted and how well the language connects with the audience. For example, you would be cooked if you only used slang on an absolute banger of a professional writing website—it might hurt your credibility the author. A skill issue, at the least.
PATHOS
EMOTION
Pathos evokes emotions such as sorrow, sympathy, inspiration, or joy in the audience in order to persuade them. For example, one could use a really sad song for a commercial about an animal shelter to elicit donations. In writing and speech, pathos is often evoked through narratives, anecdotes, body language, and emotional language. Pathos is common in creative writing, marketing, political speeches, and debates.
LOGOS
LOGIC
Logos appeals to logic. Writers and speakers present information such as facts, statistics, or research findings, to create an argument based on logical reasoning and proven evidence. For example, in a letter to persuade local government to better fund public transportation, the author could include research on cost analysis, usage data, and/or statistics on the sustainability of public transportation.
Which do you use?
Well, that depends. Who is the audience and what is your aim? Let’s say our aim is to persuade farmers near Bozeman to use fertilizer that does not seep into local water systems. Think about what kind of materials you might utilize to appeal to Ethos, Pathos, or Logos, to persuade the farmers. After giving it some thought, look at the examples below.
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Materials:
Testimony from local farmers who have used different fertilizers.
Personal relationship with farmers/farming, if relevant.
Quotes from famous farming companies or individuals who endorse the alternative fertilizers
Language that connects with the farmers on a professional and personal basis.
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Materials:
Interview quotes from people who are affected by poor water quality.
Narratives or anecdotes from people who are affected by poor water quality.
Pictures of water systems and wildlife that have been damaged by fertilizer runoff.
Language that associates alternate fertilizer with moral good, justice, sustainability, etc.
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Materials:
Statistics on fertilizer run off from industrial farms.
Research on water quality, habitat destruction, and traditional fertilizers.
Research on crop yield and alternative fertilizers.
Product quality and market value comparisons of product using alternative fertilizers.
Here are some examples of sentences that use ethos, pathos, or logos.
ETHOS
With three decades of experience in public service, tireless commitment to the people of this community, and willingness to cooperate with the opposition make me the ideal candidate for your mayor.
If my years as a Marine taught me anything, it's that caution is the best policy in this sort of situation.
Our expertise in roofing contracting is evidenced not only by our 50 years in the business and our staff of qualified technicians, but in the decades of satisfied customers who have come to expect nothing but the best.
If you're still unsure, please consider that my advanced degree and fieldwork speak for themselves.
PATHOS
Don't be the last person on the block to have their lawn treated — you don't want to be the laughing stock of your community
You'll make the right decision because you have something that not many people do: You have heart.
After years of this type of disrespect from your boss, countless hours wasted, birthdays missed … it's time that you took a stand.
Do you want to live the rest of your years yearning to know what would have happened if you just jumped when you had the chance?
LOGOS
In her dissertation “Dust Mites: A Living Skin Therapy”, Peterson Alt suggests that regularly applying dust mites to your face can increase collagen production. .
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, more than 35% of people under the age of 27 have been exposed to some form of unflorated lugiz.
After taking core soil samples from 35 locations on the traditional orchard, we found that it had 55% less phosphorus and nitrogen than soil with cover crops. Therefore, we concluded that cover crops help retain phosphorus and nitrogen.
Logos can sometimes be the hardest to identify as arguments can seem logical at first glance, but have fallacies. I don’t think it would be useful to get into fallacies here, however, you can go to this site if you would like to practice logical reasoning and identifying fallacies.