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People have been trying to dissuade each other for a long time. Perhaps one of the most famous silver-tongued early speakers was the Greek scholar Aristotle. His views are as germane in the present as they were when he was educating at the Lyceum around 290 B.C.

Persuasion is the routine of persuading. It is the great power to dissuade using the written or spoken word. Persuasion is a type of social control. It is the process of leading people to adopt an idea, attitude, or action by rational and symbolic (not always logical) means. It is a scheme of thought founded on "appeals" instead of force.

Persuasion is brought about through sorts of persuasive appeals:

Logos = The appeal to reason or the intelligence.
Pathos = The appeal to emotion or the feelings.
Ethos = The persuasive appeal of one's character or reputation.

Despite the fact that these can be analyzed separately, they work together toward persuasive ends.

Aristotle delineates these "artistic" or "intrinsic" proofs—those that are set up by means of the art of rhetoric—in contrast to "extrinsic" or "nonartistic" proofs such as testimony or contracts that are merely used by the speaker, not found through rhetoric.

Logos

Aristotle wished that all communication taking place could be done only through this framework, but given the weaknesses of humanity, he deplores, we have to resort to the use of the other two appeals. The Greek term logos means "reason".

Example of Logos

"My ex-wife is a materialistic woman, in addition to being a murderer and drug user. My ex-wife was driving a car while intoxicated and had an automobile accident which killed my only daughter Jenny."

Pathos

Aristotle commits a significant portion of discussion on altering the emotions, and categorizing the kinds of replies of different demographic groups. Hence, we detect the tight-fitting dealings between appraisal of pathos and of audience. Pathos is also the construct by which we can understand the psychological facets of rhetoric. The Greek term pathos means "emotion". Unfavorable judgments of rhetoric are inclined to focus on the overemphasis of pathos, feelings, at the sacrifice of logos, the message.

Example of Pathos

"Jenny lived with me, her father, about 50 percent of the time, ever since she was 10 months old. While Jenny was in my custody, I had the role of father and mother. Along with being a single father, comes a tremendous amount of responsibility. It was a responsibility I definitely liked. I washed her clothes, and cooked for her and took care of Jenny when she was not feeling well. When Jenny got the chicken pox, I got the chicken pox. All of my time was dedicated to Jenny. It was the greatest time of my life. Never once did I ever have to punish Jenny, disciplining only with patience and love. During my divorce, my former wife's income was $160,000.00 + per year. I was just above the poverty level. I even signed away the house to my former wife in divorce, which had $200,000 of equity in it. All I needed was Jenny. All my ex-wife cared about was money. In 1997, when I was going through an extremely difficult time financially, my former wife offered to help me out financially. She offered to buy my parental rights for $12,000.00. Even though I was facing eviction for non-payment of rent, I told her that my daughter was not for sale at any price. For 8 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 50 mph in a 15 mph speed zone, around a curve, on a wet road, near a school, with no seatbelt on my daughter. Jenny was thrown and twisted through the glass window of the car driven by her mother. The SUV then rolled over my daughter. With two collapsed lungs, my daughter got up, took a few steps gasping for air, and collapsed. My former wife never went over to Jenny after the crash. A witness claimed that my former wife was more worried about her car and jewelry than her own daughter. Jenny was taken to the hospital, hooked up to what looked like 100 tubes and a brain monitor. I sat on the cold floor in the waiting room 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 is the persuasive appeal of one's character, specifically how the character is established by means of the speech or discourse. Aristotle asserts that someone must try to appear both well-read about one's subject and benevolent. Cicero felt that in speech the beginning component of a speech (its exordium or introduction) was the position to create 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 article is an extract from ACE the CSET English study guide and online course. In the class, we look at specific examples of logos, pathos, and ethos, and we cover all forms of persuasion such as a bandwagon, red herring, straw man, shifting the burden of proof, and many more. The CSET English class has interactive 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.

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This Adult article is provided by Articleteller - The Free Article Directory http://www.articleteller.com

Jolene Wise is a education administrator and critic for ACE the CSET English Study Guide and Online course which is the better way to prepare for the CSET English examination.

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