What are ethos, logos, and pathos?
Ethos, logos, and pathos are actually Greek words for ways in which we can appeal to (or persuade) an audience. Each one appeals to a different aspect of human nature. Especially in English 15, 30, and 202 many instructors stress ethos, logos, and pathos when analyzing writing or writing rhetorical analyses. Here is a description of each: Ethos is anything that enhances the author’s credibility and appeals to the moral values of the reader. The author is trying to get the reader to make a value judgment of some kind. It can also establish familiarity between the writer and the audience. One common use of ethos is to convince the reader that the writer has goodwill or is trying to be helpful. The ethos argument says “trust me!” Pathos tries to engage the emotions of the audience. This type of appeal might try to make you feel sad, angry, happy, insecure, or any number of other emotions. The author is trying to get the reader to feel a certain way about the topic. Logos is based on facts
