ethos, pathos, logos

ethos

One of the fundamental strategies of argumentation identified by Aristotle. Ethos is basically an appeal to credibility. The writer is seeking to convince you that he or she has the background, history, skills, and/or expertise to speak on the issue. Whenever you encounter an ethos argument, always ask yourself is the credibility is substantiated and valid. An essay advocating policy changes on drug rehabilitation programs is more powerful is the person is a former addict or customer in a current rehab program. Celebrity or doctor/ dentist endorsements are common with ethos arguments.

kairos

a person's ability to adapt to any occasion and deliver a message fit for that moment

rhetoric

the art of using language effectively and persuasively

pathos

An appeal to emotion. This is one of the fundamental strategies of argumentation identified by Aristotle. Typically, pathos arguments may use loaded words to make you feel guilty, lonely, worried, insecure, happy, angry or confused. The easiest way to remember what's pathos arguments are is to see most advertising as a form of pathos argument. If an ad is using images to make you feel happy or to manipulate your emotions so that you will take action, it is using pathos.

logos

An appeal to reason. Logos is one of the fundamental strategies of argumentation identified by Aristotle. It occurs when a writer tries to convince you of the logic of his argument through the use of evidence, facts, and statistics. Writers may use inductive argumentation or deductive argumentation, but they clearly have examples and generally rational tone to their language. The problem with logos is that is can appear reasonable until you dissect the argument and then find fallacies that defeat the viability of the argument on the reader's eyes. Of course, that presupposes that the reader is able to identify the fallacies.

persuasive vs. argumentative writing

Persuasive writing uses ethos, pathos, and logos; persuasive writing uses emotional appeals Argumentative writing relies on just the facts and evidence (logos) without trying to use emotional appeals to argue their point

rhetorical appeals

The ways in which a writer can influence his/ her audience; logos, ethos, and pathos (kairos)