Ethos, Pathos, and Logos
Whether in politics, business, or any other field that might require public speaking, giving a good speech is an important skill. But what makes a good speech and how can the same speech seem different when given by a different speaker? The same question was discussed by Aristotle in the Ancient Greece. For the answer, he proposed three concepts: ethos, pathos, and logos.
To begin with a definition of each concept, ethos presents the ability of a speaker to make his speech credible. Furthermore, credibility requires clear motives, so the speaker with well-developed ethos clearly demonstrates the motives behind the speech he is giving. Therefore, it is easier for the famous people to establish ethos since their lives
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In other words, the three concepts are related to each other and almost indivisible. Ethos and logos are related since the credibility or ethos of the speech depends on the quality of the persuasive arguments or logos. For instance, if a speaker who knows the topic well and seemingly has a well-established ethos gives wrong statistics as a part of his arguments, he loses the credibility. On the other hand, a speaker who knows the correct statistics and has well-developed arguments, but does not seem to take the topic seriously will probably be ignored by the audience. Furthermore, pathos is connected to ethos as the nonverbal communication says a lot about the speaker’s trustworthiness and even motives. For example, if a credible expert seems nervous while giving the speech, the audience will be suspicious of his motives. Finally, pathos and logos correlate as sometimes a true emotion persuades the audience before the true argument does. For instance, a speaker who is emotionally attached to the topic is more likely to arouse or inspire the audience than someone who just lists plain facts about the topic. That aspect of pathos is also often abused as some speakers are good actors and can fake emotions and therefore persuade the audience to believe in something that is not