Ethos is a type of appeal to an audience based on

Logos appeals to the audience’s reason, building up logical arguments. Ethos appeals to the speaker’s status or authority, making the audience more likely to trust them. Pathos appeals to the emotions, trying to make the audience feel angry or sympathetic, for example.

Collectively, these three appeals are sometimes called the rhetorical triangle. They are central to rhetorical analysis, though a piece of rhetoric might not necessarily use all of them.

When determining what kinds of evidence you will need to support your reasons (and thus your claim), you may find it helpful to start with the three classic rhetorical appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos. Each appeal contributes unique support to an argument, and rarely are they used in isolation; most often at least two, if not all three, of the appeals are used together.

Ethos

The first appeal—ethos, known as the ethical appeal—pertains to establishing your credibility and authority on the subject you are arguing about. In order for your audience to be persuaded to accept your claim, they must believe that you are a trustworthy person who can knowledgeably speak or write on the matter.

Imagine, for example, that you were seeking help with writing a paper for a class, and one of your friends offered to assist you, claiming she was an excellent writer and could discuss with you some brainstorming strategies for how to begin. On the one hand, you appreciate your friend’s offer, but on the other, you know this friend tends to procrastinate on projects, leaving little time to go through all of the stages of the writing process herself (particularly planning, revising, and editing) to ensure a successful product. Your friend tends to get stressed working on papers at the last minute, and even if she scores well on an assignment, there is little enjoyment throughout the process or enthusiasm for the finished work. Thinking through what you know about your friend’s approach to writing, then, you may question the claim that she is an excellent writer, one you would want to trust (at least in comparison to other people, such as a Writing Center consultant) to help you. In this example, your friend’s ethos is not sufficient for you to be persuaded of the claim.

Logos

Logos, the logical appeal, focuses on persuading the audience on the basis of sound reasoning/logic. It depends on connecting to the audience as rational individuals who respond to an argument grounded in facts. We often associate logos with data, such as the use of statistics, to show why the claim has merit. To use the earlier example, if your friend who offered to help you shows you samples of her writing that demonstrate she is a strong writer, then you are more likely to be persuaded to accept the assistance. Your friend has provided you with evidence that she is an excellent writer, and presumably then she can offer you strategies to help you with your own writing. If the writing samples your friend shares also include high grades, then that data is likely to further persuade you beyond your own assessment of the quality of the writing.

Pathos

The final appeal, pathos, is known as the emotional appeal because it focuses on persuading the audience on the basis of their emotions. When using this appeal, the intent is to connect to the audience’s feelings—whether fear, anger, happiness, sympathy, etc.—in order to support the argument. Again, using the example of your friend offering to help, she may point out to you that the assignment deadline is just a few hours away and the Writing Center is closed, but she has the time to assist you. In this way, your friend may be appealing to your sense of desperation, using as evidence the circumstances under which you are working, and that may be all that is needed to persuade you.

As mentioned above, although the three appeals are discrete in their methods of persuasion, rarely is only one used in an argument. More often, at least two, if not all three, will be needed to make the best case possible. Even with our example of a friend offering to help you with an assignment, you are most likely to be persuaded if she demonstrates the credibility to do so, provides data that shows she is a strong writer, and calls attention to the impending deadline (which may trigger fear) and lack of options for help (desperation).

Aristotle defined rhetoric as “an ability, in each [particular] case, to see the available means of persuasion” (37). In other words, if you want to be persuasive you have to be both tactical and tactful. You have to find the method that works for your specific audience.

Aristotle also argued that there are three primary ways to make a persuasive appeal. He called these logos, ethos, and pathos. These three rhetorical appeals are at the heart of communication, and on this page we’ll explain how they work.

Ethos is the appeal to the authority and reputation of the speaker or writer. Let’s say you want to know more about what it’s like to be a female CEO in corporate America. Would you trust a man to tell you? Or let’s say you want to read a compelling argument against the death penalty. Would you read an essay written by a serial killer on death row?

We want the author or speaker to have credibility. Unfortunately, establishing ethos is much more difficult for writers than for public speakers. If you’re giving a speech you can give plenty of visual cues that reveal who you are and why you should be believed. Your clothing, your gestures, your body language—all these things influence your audience. If you’re a general speaking to the press, those medals pinned to your chest will do a lot of persuading.

For a writer it’s more difficult to create a sense of ethos. One strategy is to draw attention directly to your credentials. Your book might have a bio on the dustjacket. You might also describe your experience in relation to the subject matter:

While doing post-doctoral research on the effects of marijuana on college students …

Having been forced to wear a school uniform myself, I can tell you …

However, a more subtle way to establish ethos is to let your writing style draw a portrait of your personality and character. Compare the following statements:

Photo radar is just a cash cow for the police. They say they care about people’s safety, but they just want your money.

While photo radar may be abused for monetary gain, it is an effective strategy for enforcing traffic regulations.

I understand why people dislike photo radar. They feel as if the police is spying on them, as if their constitutional right to privacy has been violated.

The first sounds like a rather opinionated person, the second seems like the voice of a police spokesperson, and the last one may come across as empathetic and understanding. We know nothing about the biography of these speakers, and yet we do get a strong sense of ethos.

So as you establish a sense of ethos in your writing, think about sentence structure and tone. Your writing style can make you seem fair-minded, thoughtful—cool even. It can also make you seem smug, affected, or obsessive. Present yourself in a way that inspires trust, and then your audience will believe almost anything you have to say.

Pathos is the appeal to the emotions. Anytime your writing has an emotional impact you are dealing with pathos. Consider the following two statements:

I think we need to provide more mental health instruction.

I lost my daughter to suicide.

Which statement pulls at your heartstrings? The second one of course.

You can appeal to people’s emotions in many ways. You can make them cry, you can make jokes, you can show outrage. Even the most seemingly objective writing styles will contain some element of pathos. A science textbook, for instance, may instill feelings of awe and amazement at the beauty and complexity of the universe.

Don’t listen, then, to people who argue that all emotional arguments are truly pathetic. Pathos is a legitimate form of persuasion.

Logos is the appeal to logic. Anytime you build a case by presenting logical reasons (causal explanations, syllogisms, etc.), you are using logos.

Here are two examples of logos in action:

The rise in violent crime that lasted from the 1960s to the 1990s can be explained by higher levels of lead in the atmosphere. Since leaded gasoline has been phased out, crime levels have plummeted.

Cats should not be allowed to roam the neighbourhood. A study conducted in Lemmington, Michigan, showed that when cats were kept on a leash or indoors, the song bird population rose by 23%.

Not every attempt at logic will persuade. Sometimes the writer may be guilty of a logical fallacy. In other cases, the logic may be sound, but the reader may not trust the source (ethos) or may find the reasoning cold and heartless (a lack of pathos).

It’s always best, then, to think of all three rhetorical appeals as different pieces of the puzzle. They don’t have to be mutually exclusive strategies. Use them in any combination that fits the rhetorical situation.

Works Cited

Aristotle. On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civil Discourse. Translated by George A. Kennedy, Oxford UP, 2007.

What is an ethos appeal based on?

What does ethos use to appeal to an audience?

What is the main point of ethos?

Are ethos appeals based on ethics?