Identifying the Rhetorical Situation and Rhetorical Appeals

After Lysippos  from the Ludovisi Collection
Jastrow 2006 / Public domain

If you're currently in a composition or rhetoric course, you may be learning about the rhetorical situation or rhetorical appeals first identified and explained by Aristotle. 

There are five elements of the rhetorical situation, according to Aristotle: pathos, logos, ethos, telos, and kairos. All together, these relate to the audience's characteristics and sensibilities, the logic and structure of the work, the credibility of the author and content, the purpose or mode of the work, and the time and place of its presentation.

Writers use these elements in their attempts to convince or persuade readers to do something or believe something. These elements are like tools in a carpenter's toolbox: Just like a carpenter uses a hammer to drive in a nail, a writer might use one or more of the five elements to make a convincing argument.

Kairos and Telos

Although the elements of kairos and telos are not often taught by name, they are still used today. For example, the writer may wait for the opportune moment (kairos), time and place, to write a particular essay or make a particular argument  based on what's happening in the world. The writer may use a particular mode - narrative, descriptive, persuasive, or expository -  to present their main ideas in the most convincing way for a particular audience (telos).

Appeals to Ethos, Pathos, and  Logos

A writer might also use one of the three appeals most commonly taught today: ethos, logos, or pathos. The writer may emphasize their own credibility or the credibility of those from whom they borrow content (ethos).  The writer may persuade by providing facts and statistics, logic and reason, in an effective structural format, thereby appealing to the readers' sense of logic (logos). Lastly, the writer might convince the readers by telling a story that elicits a particular emotion in that particular intended audience, thereby appealing to their emotions (pathos).

Pathos

When writers purposefully appeal to readers' emotions or sensibilities, we call it an appeal to pathos. The effectiveness of the appeal is partially determined by the characteristics of the intended audience.

Here are some examples of the use of pathos. Notice that the different examples are specifically meant to elicit specific emotions in a particular type of person. Think about whether or not these particular appeals to pathos would work on you or someone very like you, your friends, or specific members of your family.

• Eagerness: Buying this red Corvette will make you the most popular and enviable man on the road.
• Fear: Clean up the riverbank this Saturday or risk losing access to it forever. 
• Pity: The homeless need your donations, and if you don't help, no one will. 
• Guilt: Your grandparents won't be around much longer, so you better come home to visit this summer.
• Relief: With this widget, you'll never forget a deadline.

Also notice that pathos is generally not found in academic or scholarly writing. With the exception of the use of description or narration in lead-ins or conclusions of essays, the use of pathos is generally frowned upon. On the other hand, appeals to logos and ethos are encouraged.

Logos and  Ethos

Logos

When writers use sound logic and reason, verifiable facts and ethically-gathered statistics to prove a point, they are well on their way to appealing to logos. However, writers must also clarify their content by using enough of the best kind of evidence, and they must apply the principles of unity and coherence to their writing. Only when a writer has checked their work for clear thesis statements and topic sentences and an effective order and flow have they truly appealed to readers' sense of logic.

Ethos

When writers emphasize their own credibility, or the credibility of the source content they incorporate into their writing, they are appealing to ethos. They might use personal observation or testimony to try to prove a point. They may incorporate facts and statistics from reputable sources.

Take a look at the following examples of appeals to logos and ethos.

• Ethos: As someone who's been a hairdresser for over 30 years, I can tell you that the classic French bob is always in style. 
• Ethos and Logos: As someone who's been a hairdresser for over 30 years, I can tell you that the classic French bob is always in style. Seventy percent of the cuts requested by clients are the classic French bob or a very similar style. 
• Logos: "Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day. On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers."
• Ethos and Logos: According to a fact sheet published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2018, "Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day. On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers."
• Logos: The lack of consistent forensic evidence leads us to believe the defendant did not commit the crime.
• Logos and Ethos: The lack of consistent forensic evidence presented by the coroner, the forensic expert, and the police chief leads us to believe the defendant did not commit the crime.

The difference between the use of logos and the use of both ethos and logos is that the use of ethos includes a bit of bragging about the writer's or source's credibility or authority. 

Whether you're a writer looking to use the rhetorical situation to effectively communicate with an  audience, or you are looking to better identify the use of rhetoric by others, gaining an understanding of kairos, telos, ethos, logos, and pathos will be of benefit.

Want to read more about Writing and Argumentation? Try

Syllogisms as Structure
What's a Research Narrative?
Adding Coherence to an Essay

Works Cited

Smoking and Tobacco Use. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2018,  https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm. Accessed February 18, 2020.


Copyright Amy Lynn Hess. Please contact the author for permission to republish.