How to Persuade Using Ethos, Pathos, and Logos
Persuasion is the primary undertaking that almost all communicators attempt to do in their work. No wonder persuasion forms the backbone of the undertakings in the academia. Persuasion forms the basis of all scientific research, which must be coined in a manner that they present a believable argument. The persons to whom the research is presented to, most of whom are participants in the discipline, must be convinced beyond any reasonable doubt for them to agree with the assertions presented in the research. The paper that follows will discuss three ethos, pathos, and logos, as important tools of persuasion.
Persuasion is present in different disciplines. Teachers must persuade their children of the significance of taking education seriously; parents must persuade their children why doing drugs is wrong. However, persuasion can be misused by self-seeking persons to dissuade persons from what is morally acceptable and persuade them to take the unethical route. Before delving deeper into the discourse, let us discuss the tools used in persuasion.
As stated earlier, there exist three modes of persuasion available for communicators. The art of persuasion together with its various models are ancient. In his writing dubbed Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Aristotle asserts that of the three modes of persuasion logos appears to be the most credible followed by ethos then pathos. He went ahead to define ethos as the method of persuasion that concerns the character and personality of the communicator, logos is the mode that uses argumentation to persuade the listeners while pathos is the mode that seeks to capitalize on the emotions of the listeners.
Ethos has everything to do with the conduct of the communicator. A communicator of good repute will easily receive an audience compared to that of disrepute. Renowned motivational speakers possess the ability of attracting mammoth audience compared to speakers that are not known. Most of the successful speakers and orators capitalize on this mode of persuasion because they have established themselves as renowned brands. Good men are readily believed. Authorities can also employ ethos to attract attention to their lectures and seminars.
Pathos is the second mode of persuasion. Pathos strives to address the emotion of the listeners. The communicator coins his or her words in a manner that the emotions of the listeners are captured in the discourse. The communicator can use words and massages that appeal to emotions that include fear, pity, hope, and anger. For ensample, a ringleader can mobilize striking protestors by using words that appeal to the emotional aspect of the students, such a speech is likely to inspire the students to partake of the strike action, illustrating the power of pathos in communication.
The third and perhaps the most credible mode of persuasion is logos. Logos presents an argument to the listeners. The points argue seeks to sway the listeners to the position of that the communicator seeks to establish. Logos is logic and most discourses in the academia gain their credibility if and only of the message is found to be logical. An ensample of a message that appeals to logical sense might include Research data reveals that most for-profit organization has a vibrant CSR arm that ensures that their activities are accepted by the communities where they operate. This ensample shows the significance of using findings in form of research data to inform the listeners.
In both the ancient and modern academy, logos seem to have been given prominence and rated as the most credible mode of persuasion. Ethos is rated as the second then this is followed by pathos. Although logic is rated as the most credible and widely used mode of persuasion, research has shown that the other two modes are of equal significance. For instance, a communicator must first invoke his ethos to attract the crowds, and then employ his pathos to appeal to their emotions before releasing the logical argument. Listeners will hardly give an audience to a narrator or communicator whose character or personality is awful. Pathos is important because it has the ability of capturing the attention of the listeners. It is after the attention has been captured that the communicator can then release his train of thoughts.
From the forgone discussion, all the modes of persuasion have been depicted as being vital in passing through some information. As a communicator, I value all the modes of persuasion with equal measure. However, it is worth noting that I often use ethos to inform the content of my communication. By so doing, I ensure that whatever I set out to deliver to my audience is both accurate and passes the test of ethics. In agree with the authors assertion that ethos influences how one comports himself. The disimilarity between a person set out to persuade persons to do evil and one that seeks to persuade persons to do right lies in ethics. This goes to show the significance of ethos in persuasion. After ethos has taken root, then and only then can the other modes of persuasion find their true expression.
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