The Artistic (Rhetorical) Proofs –
Ethos, Pathos, Logos
“Of the modes of persuasion furnished
by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the
personal character of the speaker; the second on putting the audience into a
certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by
the words of the speech itself.
Persuasion is
achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech is so spoken as to
make us think him credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily
than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely
true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided.
This kind of
persuasion should be achieved by what the speaker says and by what people think
of his character before he begins to speak. It is not true, as some writers
assume in their treatises on rhetoric, that the personal goodness revealed by
the speaker contributes nothing to his power of persuasion; on the contrary,
his character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion he
possesses. [Ethos]
Secondly,
persuasion may come through the hearers, when the speech stirs their emotions.
Our judgments when we are pleased and friendly are not the same as when we are
pained and hostile. It is towards producing these effects, as we maintain,
that-present day writers on rhetoric direct the whole of their efforts. This
subject shall be treated in detail when we come to speak of the emotions. [Pathos]
Thirdly,
persuasion is effected through the speech itself when we have proved a truth or
an apparent truth by means of the persuasive arguments suitable to the case in
question.” [Logos]