Aristotle's Appeals

***Let's Put The Following In Context of Essay 1 today***

1. Which of these appeals are evident in the poem--and where?

2. How can you use your knowledge of an appeal being used to a poem going viral? Or, in other words, how can we use this knowledge to make a claim (or make claims) about the poem's appeal(s) to large audiences?



Ethos (ethics/people)

• Making an appeal using one's own credibility/character
• Using things about yourself (personal history, age, race, religion) to make an argument

How to attempt:

• Describe what you think are moral or positive characteristics and actions of a specific person/group of people if you want to show their goodness or authority.

• Describe immoral actions and negative characteristics and actions of a person/group of people if you want to put them in a 'bad light' or have them lose authority.

Logos (logic/facts)

• Making an appeal using your logic, your reasoning skills.

How to attempt:

• Cite facts. Basic facts of life that can found anywhere, or specific facts that give a view of the situation. 
• Explain what your facts mean. Interpret them for your audience. Never let a fact speak for itself! Facts can be distorted into different truths.

Pathos (apathy/empathy/sympathy/feelings)

• Making an appeal to the readers' emotions. 

How to attempt:

• Describe an event that represents an idea to you, and try to describe the actions and details that help build a particular emotion. 
• Using figures of speech like hyperbole (gross exaggeration), anaphora (repeat an important phrase for emphasis), and metaphor may be helpful.
• Try to use words to draw an image. 
• Use dialogue or quotes that represent things said that illicit emotion. 
• Pose questions that illicit an emotion.
• Huge generalizations and huge consequences. Formulate these in a way that comes off syntactically as possibilities. 
• Make sure something or someone is impacted by somebody else's actions, but make sure that you specify who each someone is!

Kairos

• Using time and setting to give context to your argument! What's going on in the world, recently, currently, historically, that supports your points?

How to attempt:

• Write about an event and its known impacts...
• Write a point about the historical aspects of the event--is what is going on today a reoccurrence?
• or, talk about an event and what the results could be if the world doesn't act (and act the way you urge them to!).

***Many times, we mix and match our appeals, and that is fine and dandy. It's most important that you are very conscious about trying to appeal to your audience, thinking of your audience and using language to affect them.