The audience are EWM students who are studying rhetoric. The three appeals are a fundamental aspect of rhetoric and the EWM major in general. This poster will help remind students what pathos is and and its purpose. The poster will include definitions, explanations, history and examples of what pathos is and how it is used!

Intro

Examples

"Adolf Hitler." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.Bitzer, Lloyd F. "The Rhetorical Situation." Philosophy and RhetoricSmith, Craig R. Rhetoric and Human Consciousness: A History. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 1998. Print.

An easy example to remember

is

the SPCA commercials with a Sara

h

McLachlan song playing in th

e

background and pictures of sa

d

animals flahsing across the scree

n.

Automatically, the commercial

is

playing towards your emotions. Th

e

sadsad music in combination of t

he

young animals shown in sad poses

is

appealing to your softer side and

is

using that to try and gather donation

s

for their cause.

Pathos is important, regardless

if

you’re using it or having it used on yo

u.

Emotions are a huge part of life and

is

used in decision making, even if tryin

g

to remain impartial. Experiences an

d

history will factor in to how yo

u

perceive the world, and pathos us

es

thesethese to make its point and connect t

o

your background. It relies on yo

ur

emotions to take precedence on you

r

decisions.

Conclusion While some may try to say they have no emotions or aren’t affected, pathos is just as important as ethos or logos. Emotions will always have some part of our decision making and pathospathos uses this to appeal to those emotions and push its point. While some may use it for nefarious activities, most people use it as a way to gather sympathy for its cause(s).

Definition Aristotle created the three rhetorical appeals, pathos included. He defines pathos as “how to ‘put hearers... into the right frame of mind’ with regards to certain issues and the speajer’s persuasive intent” (Smith, 2013). The word comes from the three appeals that Aristotle defined in his book Rhetoric. It is closely linked with the other appeals, ethos and logos. All three are used to create a strong rhetorical argument.

Critique Pathos is a an emotional appeal, which can be used to manipulate people’s thoughts and cause them to agree to things they may not otherwise have. After World War I, Germany was in a bad place economically and needed a leader who could help their country prosper. That leader, AdolfAdolf Hitler, used the emotionally-charged political environment to launch a campaign to take over Europe and was responsible for the Holocaust (Adolf Hitler, Bio 2015). Was/Is it wrong to capitilize on people who are worried and have their emotions running high to achieve personal gain? Pathos can be used on people who may not listen to logic in their state, but it is easy to take advantage.