Rhetorical Appeals PDF

Ethos, Logos, Pathos, and Kairos Review of Rhetorical Appeals Text and images from www.gcsnc.com What is Rhetoric?  Rhetoric (n) - the art of speaking or writing effectively (Webster's Definition).  According to Aristotle, rhetoric is "the abil...

Ethos, Logos, Pathos, and Kairos Review of Rhetorical Appeals Text and images from www.gcsnc.com What is Rhetoric?  Rhetoric (n) - the art of speaking or writing effectively (Webster's Definition).  According to Aristotle, rhetoric is "the ability, in each particular case, to see the available means of persuasion." He described four main forms of rhetoric: Ethos, Logos, Pathos, and Kairos.  In order to be a more effective writer, you must understand these terms. When you better understand their meanings, your writing becomes more persuasive. ▪ Ethos: the source's credibility / authority ▪ Is the source trustworthy, educated, reliable, credible, honest, fair, and respectable? ▪ Examples: ▪ Client testimonials ▪ Success stories ▪ Celebrity endorsements ▪ Personal anecdotes  Product: George Foreman Grill Ethos Example:  Repertoire: boxing champion and a preacher Why is George Foreman credible? Logos (Greek ▪ Logos: for “word”) the logic/reasoning used to support a claim; the facts and statistics used to help support the argument ▪ Examples: ▪ Case studies ▪ Cause and effect reasoning ▪ Facts and statistics ▪ Analogies Logos Example:  Product: Cheerios  Logic: “Lower your cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks!” Pathos ▪ Pathos:(Greek appeals for “suffering” to the audience’s capacity for orempathy; “experience”) wants you to care about the subject matter ▪ Typical Emotional Appeals: ▪ Love ▪ Pity ▪ Patriotism ▪ Hope ▪ Jealousy ▪ Anger ▪ Fear Pathos Example:  Product: Dorothy Gray Salon  Emotional Appeal: jealousy / fear Kairos (Greek for “right time,” “season,” or ▪ Kairos: establishes the timeliness of the issue; “opportunity”) appeals to the viewer’s or reader’s sense of urgency (“it’s the right time to say or do the right thing”) ▪ Kairos Factors: ▪ Setting ▪ Time ▪ Place Kairos Example:  Speech: “I Have a Dream” by Martin Luther King Jr.  Historical Context and Importance: Together, the “where” (the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.), the “why” (the culmination of a march on Washington by thousands of members of the civil rights movement), and the “when” (during the centennial celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation, at a time of day when broadcast networks could carry the speech live, and during a march which had drawn more than 250,000 people to the capital) created the perfect moment for King’s message to reach the largest number of receptive listeners. What appeals are being used in the ad above?  What appeals are being used in the ad? Is there one that is a stronger approach than the others?  Elements of an Argument Rhetorical Appeals  The hook is an opening that grabs the  Pathos, or emotional appeals, attempt reader’s attention and establishes a to persuade the reader or listener by connection between the reader and the appealing to the senses and emotions. writer.  Ethos are ethical appeals that attempt  The claim is a clear and straightforward to persuade the reader or listener by statement of the writer’s belief and what is being argued. focusing on the qualifications or the character of the speaker or by  Concessions and refutations are claiming that “it” is the ethical restatements of arguments made by the “thing” to do. other side (concessions) and the writer’s arguments against those opposing  Logos, or logical appeals, attempt to viewpoints (refutations) and why the persuade readers or listeners by writer’s arguments are more valid. leading them down the road of logic  Support is the reasoning behind the and causing them to come to their own argument. Support can include evidence as conclusions. Logical appeals state the well as logical and emotional appeals facts and show how the facts are (logos and pathos). It may also anticipate interrelated. objections and provide reasoning to overcome those objections.  Kairos is the attempt to convince the audience that the issue is so important  Summary/Call to action, which is a closing statement with a final plea for action. that they must act now. Other  Rhetorical Repetition: Strategies: using the same words frequently to emphasize a message or point  Parallelism: is repetition of the same pattern of words/phrases and grammatical structure within a sentence or passage to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance; may create a sense of rhythm and momentum  **All parallelism is repetition, but not all repetition is parallelism!**  Analogy: a comparison in which the subject is compared point by point to something far different, usually with the idea of clarifying the subject by comparing it to something familiar