| Logos | Ethos | Pathos | |
| Definition | Appeal to reason and logic | Projection of the speaker or writer’s character or personal authority | Appeal to emotions and values |
| Case study | Reasons why you can’t go | You can’t go because I say so | Weeping so you won’t go |
| Aristotle | Reason | Will | Emotion |
| Wizard of Oz | Scarecrow | Lion; Dorothy | Tinman |
| Star Trek | Spock | Kirk | McKoy |
| Star Trek TNG | Data | Picard | Troi, Worf |
| Simpson’s | Lisa | Marge | Homer, Bart |
| LOTR | Elrond | Gandalf | Gollum |
| Evidence | Statistics, informal logic | Experts | Anecdotes |
| Methods | Scientific method, factual details, unbiased reportage | Narrative and descriptive details, cases, and examples to back up and support generalizations and demonstrate accuracy | Narrative and descriptive details calculated to evoke an emotional response |
| Problems and weaknesses | No “soul” | Bankrupt personal authority or character | Suspicions of manipulation |
| Remembering | Logos, Logic | “hE can be trusted?” | Pathos, Passion (an emotion) |
- Jung suggests healthy individual are characterized by a balance of reason, will, and emotion. We are suspicious of people who are stuck in one mode of thought.
- The best thinkers, speakers, and writers move among argumentative strategies, adapting to variations in audience. For example, in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King shifts strategies to speak to different segments of his audience.
- Ethos often mediates between logos and pathos.
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