Rhetoric

Ethos

Ethos is an audience's perception of a speaker/author's credibility, authority on a topic, and/or reputation. To determine ethos the audience typically asks themselves the following:

• • • • "What does this person know about this topic?"

      • Why should I trust this person?"

There are two types of ethos:

1. 1. 1. 1. extrinsic- this involves the background of the speaker, including the speaker's character/reputation, level of expertise on the topic, level of education, and experience.

         2. intrinsic- this involves how the speaker writes or speaks; to determine intrinsic ethos the audience typically analyzes the following:

• • • • • • Does the speaker's speech/writing have errors?

          • Does the speaker have confidence?

          • Are they overconfident?

          • Do they lack confidence?

          • Do they seem distracted in their presentation, speaking, or writing?

Discussing ethos:

• • • • We decide whether the audience would determine if the speaker's ethos is strong or weak.

      • Phrases we might use to discuss this:

        • • "The speaker/author's extrinsic ethos is strong because..."

          • "The speaker/author's extrinsic ethos is weak because..."

          • "The speaker/author's intrinsic ethos is strong because..."

          • "The speaker/author's intrinsic ethos is weak because..."

          • "The speaker/author's use of intrinsic ethos is strong, but their extrinsic ethos is weak because..."

          • The speaker/author's use of intrinsic ethos is weak, but their extrinsic ethos is strong because..."

Mistakes to avoid when analyzing ethos:

• • • • First, you should always remember that when you are engaged in rhetorical analysis, it's not your job to decide if you perceive the speaker as credible or authoritative. Instead, you must evaluate how the audience is likely to perceive the speaker.

      • Second, do not confuse the strategy of Testimony and Authority (see below, under Logos) with ethos. When a speaker uses information from someone else as a source to support their argument, that's an example of logos: it's the strategy of "Testimony and Authority."

        • • • Students sometimes confuse the two because in both cases, the credibility and authority of the person speaking (or writing) is important. However, there's an important difference.

              • • When the speaker is known by the audience to be experienced and an expert on the topic, their extrinsic ethos is strong.

                • When the speaker cites someone else who is experienced and an expert, that's an example of logos, because the rhetor is using the strategy of testimony and authority.

Logos

Logos is the use of logical strategies to persuade your audience. If a statement attempts to persuade the audience by making a reasonable claim and offering proof in support of that claim, then that statement is a logical argument.

Note that a statement does not have to be considered logical to be a logical appeal.

As an observer, you can recognize that the speaker is attempting to use logos to persuade the audience, but that recognition doesn't mean the speaker is succeeding. We use the term logos to describe what kind of rhetorical appeal is being made, not to evaluate whether or not an appeal makes sense to us (as observers) or to the audience being addressed.

Here are a few common logical strategies used to make logical arguments:

• • • cause or consequence- This is a claim about one thing causing another, or one thing being caused by another.

      • • Example: Global warming is caused by greenhouse gases being produced by humankind.

        • Example: The current economic crisis was caused primarily by deregulation of the financial industry.

        • Example: If the government gets involved in providing health insurance to the American people, we will see a sharp decline in the quality of our medical care.

    • analogy- This is a claim about the qualities of one thing using a comparison about another thing.

      • • Example: The ozone layer of the atmosphere is like the outer layer of skin on the human body, and if it goes away, planet Earth will be in a lot of pain.

        • Example: Going to that class is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

        • Example: "George Bush taking credit for the Berlin Wall coming down is like the rooster taking credit for the sunrise." (Al Gore,1992 Vice Presidential Debate)

        • Example: That candidate is what we call a post turtle. Imagine you're driving along a country road and you see a turtle up on top of a fence post. He doesn't know how he got there. He doesn't know what he's doing there. And he has no idea what to do next. (See this entry at Snopes.com)

    • testimony and authority- This is a claim that involves citing the opinion of someone other than the speaker, someone respected by the audience.

      • • Example: 4 out of 5 Dentists surveyed would recommend sugarless gum to their patients who chew gum (Trident Gum advertisement).

        • Example: The leading U.S. military commanders in Iraq say the surge strategy is working.

        • Example: How bad is the current financial mess? According to Alan Greenspan, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman, it's "the type of wrenching financial crisis that comes along only once in a century" ("Greenspan").

    • definition- This is a claim about the meaning or nature of something.

      • • Example: The president is a socialist.

        • Example: Marriage is a union between a man and a woman.

        • Example: Last year's Super Bowl game was extremely boring

    • syllogism- This is a claim using deductive logic involving a major premise/issue, a minor premise issue, and drawing a conclusion based on the two. This is a move from the general to the specific.

      • • Example: Nuclear power plants generate dangerous nuclear waste, the new power plant they're planning to build in our community is a nuclear power plant. So the new power plant will be dangerous.

        • Example: Republicans favor deregulation. John McCain is a Republican, so he will pursue a policy of deregulation if elected.

        • Example: Democrats like to "tax and spend." Barack Obama is a Democrat, so he's going to raise our taxes if elected.

    • support a generalization with examples: This is a claim using inductive logic, where a general statement about something is backed up by specific examples.

      • • Example: In the second presidential debate of 2008, Senator John McCain emphasized his own good judgment in this way: "And I am convinced that my record, going back to my opposition from sending the Marines to Lebanon, to supporting our efforts in Kosovo and Bosnia and the first Gulf War, and my judgment, I think, is something that ... I'm willing to stand on."

        • Example: In the second presidentail debate of 2008, Senator Barack Obama argued that the United States should maintain good relations with other nations in order to make the best use of our own military resources in a time of economic constraint. He then illustrated his general statement with this specific example: "Let's take the example of Darfur just for a moment. Right now there's a peacekeeping force that has been set up and we have African Union troops in Darfur to stop a genocide that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. We could be providing logistical support, setting up a no-fly zone at relatively little cost to us, but we can only do it if we can help mobilize the international community and lead."

Pathos

Pathos is used to describe the speaker's attempt to appeal to an audience's sense of identity, their self-interest, and their emotions. If the speaker can create a common sense of identity with their audience, then the speaker is using pathos.

So if a college recruiter mentions having played basketball in high school and convinces the audience that she or he was pretty good, then not only does that fact strengthen the speaker's ethos, it also makes an emotional appeal.

This is also why so many politicians will open their speeches with "My fellow Americans...", and also why many of them use the phrase "My friends..." so much when speaking to audiences.

Pathos most often refers to an attempt to engage an audience's emotions. Think about the different emotions people are capable of feeling: they include love, pity, sorrow, affection, anger, fear, greed, lust, and hatred. If a speaker tries to make an audience feel emotions in response to what is being said or written, then they are using pathos.

• • • • Example: Let's say a speaker is trying to convince an audience of middle-class Americans to donate money to a hurricane relief fund. The speaker can make emotional appeals to an audience's feelings of love, pity, fear, and perhaps anger. (The extent to which any of these emotions will be successfully engaged will vary from audience to audience.)

        • • • Love will be felt if the audience can be made to believe in their fundamental connections to other human beings.

            • Pity will be felt if the plight of the homeless hurricane victim can be made very vivid to the audience.

            • Fear will be felt if the audience can be made to imagine what they would feel like in that homeless victim's place.

            • Anger will be felt if the audience realizes how little has been done by those who are responsible for helping.

          • If the speaker works all of these things together properly (and also doesn't screw up ethos and logos), then the audience is more likely to be persuaded.

Mistakes to avoid:

The emotions we're talking about here are emotions that might be felt by the audience, not emotions felt by the speaker.

If a speaker is clearly angry about the topic being addressed, for example, that should not be taken as pathos.

However, if the speaker is clearly trying to make the audience feel angry, then that should, in fact, be considered pathos, and whether or not the audience does, in fact, feel the emotions in question, the observer can still recognize when the speaker is using an emotional appeal. Sometimes, the emotional appeal is weak (meaning it probably won't succeed). Sometimes, the emotional appeal is strong (meaning it probably will succeed).

Note: This was modified from Ethos-Pathos-Logos-The-3-Rhetorical-Appeals

Kairos

Kairos is a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action : the opportune and decisive moment. Kairos often refers to a set of circumstances of conditions that influences an audience to make a critical decision or take critical action for or against a topic.

A good way to think about kairos is to consider how speakers try to persuade audiences based on unique timing and current events.

For instance, consider the way restaurants, bookstores, and various campus entities appeal to incoming freshman students. Vendors have signs declaring "New to USF? Join this club to meet new people and learn about the campus!" and "First-year students, this week only: $100 off your first month at this apartment building!" They reference the particular moment, first stepping onto a new campus, to persuade you to do everything from opening a new bank account and buying logo bumper stickers to ordering a dozen pizzas.

Effective uses of kairos take advantage of the particular time and place to make texts unique and give them a sense of immediacy.

For your own writing, you can skillfully employ kairos by doing the following:

• • • • Examine the rhetorical situation, the factors that create that particular moment.

      • Consider the order and timing of your text.

      • Be accommodative; appeal to each specific context.

By using kairos as a guiding principle for your own texts, you can bring interest and timeliness to your writing projects. So when you begin to write, think of the moment that your writing will enter into—the audience that will read it, the conversation that it joins, the history surrounding the topic, and the words you use to craft your argument. Awareness and use of this knowledge create beautiful writing that, like turning the key in your door at the end of a long day, seems perfectly timed, effortless, and just right.

By now, you should know what kairos is: an attempt to persuade through appeals to timeliness. Here are a few possible examples of kairos:

• • • • the call to "Act Now!"- An appeal to some particular fast-approaching moment is often a speaker's attempt to create a perfect moment for his or her message by creating a sense of urgency. You've likely seen a commercial or infomercial that pleads with the viewer to "Call now!" to receive some important prize or to avoid missing some sort of opportunity; this type of commercial or informercial employs kairos.

      • The use of deadlines or goals- Such appeals to kairos are often seen as part of fundraising literature: by connecting a reader's or listener's response to a particular deadline or goal, the writer creates urgency and excitement.

      • References to "current crises" or impending doom- Such references are prevalent in political and social campaigns. Consider, for example, the large number of financial bills, laws, and investigations undertaken by legislative bodies throughout the country after the most recent economic recession. Lawmakers were responding to and taking advantage of the moment created by the crisis in order to persuade their fellow lawmakers and constituents to support a particular fiscal policy.

Note: This was modified from Kairos

Topos

Topos refers to a theme or convention. In literature, topoi (the plural form of the word) are used almost as metaphors for constructing a story. When a speaker presents an argument, they might frame it in a way that will make clearer sense to their audience by using a trope, or metaphor, that the audience is familiar with.

Another way to look at topos, though, is by following how the speaker uses conventions or situates their communication within a certain theme or style.

For your own writing, you may use topos by considering the following:

• • • • Do you need to change the way you talk with your friends versus the way you talk with your employer?

      • Do you use traditional formatting on a résumé, or do you get creative?

Topos is all about framing your communication within a situation that meets expectations or is more clearly understood by your target audience, because of how it is presented.

NOTE: link to propaganda here