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Humans have been seeking to persuade one another for years. Maybe one of the most famous silver-tongued early debaters was the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle. Aristotle's thoughts are as pertinent in the present as they were when he was instructing at the Lyceum around 310 B.C. Persuasion is the act of persuading. It is the superpower to dissuade using the written or spoken word. Persuasion is a kind of social control. It is the procedure of guiding people toward the adoption of an attitude, idea, or action by logical and symbolic (not always logical) means. It is a scheme of thought founded on "appeals" instead of violence. Persuasion is brought about by types of persuasive appeals: Logos = The appeal to reason or the intelligence. Pathos = The appeal to emotion or the heart. Ethos = The persuasive appeal of one's character or reputation. These appeals are usually analyzed individually but know that these appeals often work together in combination toward a persuasive conclusion. Aristotle defines these "artistic" or "intrinsic" proofs—those that could be established by means of the art of rhetoric—in comparison to "extrinsic" or "nonartistic" proofs such as testimony or legal documents that are simply used by the speaker, not originating in rhetoric. Logos Aristotle wished that all communication could be done only through this appeal, but given the short comings of humanity, he bewails, we need to resort to the use of the other two appeals. The ancient Greek term logos is defined as "reason". Example of Logos "My ex-wife is a materialistic lady, as well as a murderer and drug user. My ex-wife was driving a car while under the influence of a controlled substance and had an automobile accident which resulted in the death of my only daughter Jenny." Pathos Aristotle devotes a large amount of discourse on altering the emotions, and defining the kinds of responses of dissimilar demographic groupings. Thence, we detect the tight-fitting relations with the assessment of pathos and of audience. Pathos, as well, is the class by which we understand the psychological characteristics of rhetoric. The ancient Greek term pathos is defined as "emotion". Unfavorable judgments of rhetoric are inclined to concentrate on the overemphasis of pathos, feelings, at the expense of logos, the message. Example of Pathos "Jenny lived with me, her father, about half of the time, ever since she was 11 months old. While Jenny was in my care, I had the role of father and mother. Along with being a single father, comes a tremendous amount of duty. It was a duty I greatly liked. I cooked for her, washed her clothes and took good care of Jenny when she was sick. When Jenny got the chicken pox, I got the chicken pox. All of my life was dedicated to Jenny. It was the greatest time of my life. Never did I ever have to punish Jenny, disciplining only with patience and love. At the time of my divorce, my former wife's income was $160,000.00 + a year. I was at the poverty level. I even signed away the home to my former wife in divorce, which had $215,000.00 of equity in it. All I needed was my daughter Jenny. All my ex-wife cared about was money. In 1997, when I was going through an exceedingly rough time financially, my former wife offered to help me out financially. She offered to purchase my parental rights for $10,000.00. Even though I was facing eviction, I told her that my daughter was not for sale at any price. For 7 years, my former wife tried to take Jenny away from me. She finally did. On March 22nd, 2004 Jenny's mother was driving her to school. She was going in excess of 45 mph in a 20 mph speed zone, around a curve, on a wet and slippery road, near a school, with no seatbelt on my daughter. Jenny was ejected through the glass window of the car being driven by her mother. The car then rolled over my daughter. With two collapsed lungs, my daughter got up, took a couple of steps gasping for air, and fell back down. My former wife never even walked over to Jenny after the crash. A witness claimed that my former wife was more concerned about her car and jewelry than her own daughter. Jenny was rushed to the hospital, hooked up to what looked like 20 tubes and a brain monitor. I waited on the cold floor in the waiting area for two weeks. Jenny's heart stopped beating at 8:22 p.m. on April 5th, 2004 at the age of 7 1/2 years old. My former wife tested positive for cocaine, hydrocodone and other drugs." Ethos Ethos names the method of persuasion that involves the use of one's character, particularly how the character is established by means of the speech or discourse. Aristotle claimed that one should stive to look both well-educated about one's topic and benevolent. Cicero felt that in speech the initial component of a speech (its introduction or exordium) was the position to set up one's credibility with the audience. Example of Ethos "My Dear Fellow Clergymen: While confined here in Birmingham city jail, I came across your recent statement calling my present activities "unwise and untimely."...Since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable in terms. I think I should indicate why I am here in Birmingham, since you have been influenced by the view which argues against "outsiders coming in."...I, along with several members of my staff, am here because I was invited here. I am here because I have organizational ties here. But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their "thus saith the Lord" far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid." - Martin Luther King, Jr. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" This report is an excerpt from ACE the CSET English study guide and online course. In the course, we look at specific examples of ethos, logos, and pathos, and we analyze all forms of persuasion such as a bandwagon, red herring, straw man, shifting the burden of proof, and many more. The CSET English course has computer generated chronology, fill-in, and matching exercises that enable you to quickly memorize the information you need to ace the rhetoric and media persuasion sections of the CSET English examination. If you’re looking for a big publishing company that sells dozens of instant downloadable test preparation pdfs or ebook study guides with which to pass your CSET examination, we’re not for you. But if you’re looking for an affordable interactive software program or an online CSET class from a small company that specializes exclusively in the California curriculum as applied to the CSET exam, I encourage you to check out our Web site.
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Jolene Wise is a test expert and critic for ACE the CSET English which is the better way to ace the CSET English test.
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