Ethos, pathos, and logos are the 3 modes of persuasion according to Aristotle. Ethos appeals to the credibility of the arguers, logos appeals to the logic, and pathos appeals to the emotion. The 3 work in tandem to create strong persuasive arguments. It is important for you to take each one into account. You don't want to argue for something based on your emotions that isn't logically sound, but you also don't want to argue for something that is logically sound that might anger or offend someone. And it won't matter how logical and agreeable your argument is if your audience doesn't trust you or find you credible. In other words, you have to remember that your audience is human and humans have a tendency to think both with their heads and their hearts. When we performed the exercise today, we determined which people were absolutely needed because of their skills and the use we could put those skills to. Here we used both ethos and logos. We need food, and James is a farmer, so James can stay. Some of us kept people around because of the emotional support that person would provide. One group kept the old psychologist because we assumed she could be a soothing, motherly presence for the group. Another group kept both children because they couldn't imagine killing off children and because the children could eventually become helpful. That is pathos with a little bit of logos thrown in since we can suppose that this people might be less willing to help us if we killed their children. You want to make sure that any formal (and sometimes informal) argument you present appeals to all 3 modes of persuasion because they are all valid.
Logical Fallacies
Logical fallacies are errors in logic. We think we're presenting logical reasoning for our claims but somewhere in our claim we are making faulty assumptions that take away from our argument. There are different kinds of logical fallacies that people make in presenting their positions. It is a good idea to be familiar with them so you can point them out in a discussion, and so you can avoid using them yourself in an argument. Logical fallacies hide the truth, so pointing them out is very useful. Check out the List of Logical Fallacies for some common ones. We will be working the next week at making sure we know these types of fallacies when we see them.
Homework
- Submit your Analysis Papers first drafts via ELI and Google Docs and Review your classmates papers (you'll be reading everybody's papers) Reviews Due Monday Nov. 9
- Final Draft of Analysis Papers Due Friday Nov. 13
- Research a Conspiracy Theory. Come to class with a brief write up of the claims of that theory and the evidence they use to support those claims. This can be handwritten bullet points. Due In-Class Friday, Nov. 13
- Hunting for Logical Fallacies: Read a series of editorials from your favorite publication or blog (New York Times, Fox News, NPR), looking for one or more of the logical fallacies we discussed in class. Follow the instructions in the Logical Fallacy Assignment Sheet. And if you need a refresher on the definitions of the fallacies, check out the List of Logical Fallacies (both underneath Class Documents). Due Monday, Nov. 16
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