Ethos,Logos, and Pathos - Essay Example

Ethos, Logos and Pathos Roll No: Teacher: 30th October 2008 Describe your understanding of ethos, logos, and pathos with respect to the rhetorical triangle. Provide at least two specific examples of how ethos, logs, and pathos affect decisions in a communication situation.Aristotle introduces the concept of three main types to be used in oratory studies, which are ethos, logos and pathos. They are Greek words. According to Aristotelian concept, when a person gives some arguments and these arguments are innovated then that person should have some reasons for it and this called ethos.

As far as emotion is concerned in terms of any discussion, it is called pathos. When a person or many persons form confidence in the personality or character of a speaking person, it is called logos. This is a formation of a rhetorical triangle between these three concepts of ethos, logos and pathos, as they are interrelated. Due to the emotionalism of the character with relevant reasoning, his/her personality gains confidence from the side of audience on the basis of his/her presentation of a topic with ethos, pathos and logos.

There are three kinds of appeals that a person can make while communicating to an audience. They are pathetical appeal, ethical appeal and logical appeal. Pathetical appeal is there when a person makes use of emotions to attract the audience towards his words and the person takes help of his and the audiences emotions for rousing the emotions in audience by his/her pathetical appeal. Ethical appeal is there when a person shares a common belief or what is accepted by all. Ethical appeal is done with the help of the moral authority of the speaker.

The speaker of ethical appeal makes the audience to understand him/her because of the common concerns that are there between him/her and the audience. Logical appeal makes use of ethical and pathetic elements as well. A logical appeal is backed by reasoning and a person is able to gain the trust of the audience by means of his/her character. In a rhetorical triangle, the speaker should take help of pathetic, ethical and logical appeal in order to make his oration influential. Ethos, pathos and logos are interlinked to one another.

Ethos can be regarded as a speaker as it is linked with speaking with reasoning; pathos can be regarded as the emotions that a person uses while delivering his/her message to a targeted audience and logos can be regarded as the message that is being delivered by ethos by the help of pathos. With logos, a confidence is developed among the public and the speaker. A triangle of speaker, emotions and delivered message is formed when oration takes place. For example, in public when a speaker (ethos) is on stage, he makes use of emotions (pathos) to deliver his message (logos) to the audience.

He gains confidence when people understand his speech and his emotions and share them with him. Such example can be taken of a politician, who is rhetorically speaking to an audience. An army chief can make his officers to fight against another army on the basis of their shared emotions that he aroused by means of his speech, his emotions and his position. The reasoning that he is going to give will be proved authentic because of the confidence that people had in his character as an army chief.

An oration is influential when ethos, pathos and logos, each are considered while speaking.Works CitedAristotle: Systematic Rhetoric