Pathos/Logos/Ethos

[cacian]

what is your simple understanding of these concepts and how useful are they in modern writing?
presumably pathos derives from pathetic.

[YALASH]

Peace be on you.
" Ethos or the ethical appeal, means to convince an audience - Pathos or the emotional appeal, means to persuade an audience by appealing to their emotions - Logos or the appeal to logic, means to convince an audience by use of logic or reason." Ref: http://pathosethoslogos.com/

If one writes or speaks with honesty, there may be other dimesnions too e.g. appeal based on observation, spiritual appeal etc....

[Mohammad Ahmad]

Pathos, Ethos, Logos conceptions, whatever the definition is, all of them lead to one way that it is the "pathetic communion"
As we see:
The word pathetic is derived from pathos. (Compassion)
The word ethic is derived from ethos. (Moral)
The word logic is derived from logos. (Reason)
Reason + compassion + moral= creativity of a general concept
Which one drags the audience immediately?
Then what is about the text unity?
1- Is passion the only thing that is controlling upon human?
2- What can logic do if the matter is too complex?
3- What can ethic do if the matter is illogic?
To use morality conception it means sometimes to neglect the fact of an audience does not favour the logic purpose.
Therefore, in this side excluding the logic (logos), as I think, is better than giving it significant role.

[cacian]

pathetic communion?
what drags an audience is a variety of things. certainly sympathy is a bucket full of tears and can after a while run heavy and carelessness becomes it.
logic and morality cross each other, never meet. they are different.
I read not to draw a feeling but to understand. partiality is more long lasting long term. it helps communication flow better and writing improve.

[hypatia_]

i always thought pathos=emotion, ethos=authority, logos=logic. And what drags an audience depends on the audience, right?

But I like Mohammad Ahmad's post about how ethos is more closely related to ethics and morality. Makes me wonder what the connection is between authority and ethics. How much of an influence does authority have on our ethical standards?

[qimissung]

I have used this information with my students:

http://courses.durhamtech.edu/perkins/aris.html

A General Summary of Aristotle's Appeals . . .
The goal of argumentative writing is to persuade your audience that your ideas are valid, or more valid than someone else's. The Greek philosopher Aristotle divided the means of persuasion, appeals, into three categories--Ethos, Pathos, Logos.

Ethos (Credibility), or ethical appeal, means convincing by the character of the author. We tend to believe people whom we respect. One of the central problems of argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are someone worth listening to, in other words making yourself as author into an authority on the subject of the paper, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect.

Pathos (Emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions. We can look at texts ranging from classic essays to contemporary advertisements to see how pathos, emotional appeals, are used to persuade. Language choice affects the audience's emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument.

Logos (Logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning. This will be the most important technique we will study, and Aristotle's favorite. We'll look at deductive and inductive reasoning, and discuss what makes an effective, persuasive reason to back up your claims. Giving reasons is the heart of argumentation, and cannot be emphasized enough. We'll study the types of support you can use to substantiate your thesis, and look at some of the common logical fallacies, in order to avoid them in your writing.

Interestingly, although logic is held as the highest standard of debating an issue, it has largely been found that emotional appeals are often the most effective in actually persuading people. I usually encourage my students to use a logical argument and to back that up with their emotional appeal. In describing Ethos, I ask my students who they would trust in giving them some important information. Would they trust a friend? A parent? A particular politician? How about a used car salesman?

[Sancho]

Nice explanation.

What about mythos?