Aristotelian Appeals: Ethos, Pathos, Logos and Business Communication

This essay delves into the Aristotelian concepts of Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, examining their significance in persuasive communication within a business context. It elucidates how these three rhetorical appeals—credibility, emotion, and logic—have underpinned persuasive strategies for over two millennia, providing a foundation for effective communication. The essay describes each appeal with relevant examples, particularly focusing on their application in modern business communication, including marketing, advertising, and leadership. It highlights the importance of ethos in establishing trust, pathos in creating emotional connections with customers, and logos in presenting logical arguments supported by facts and figures. The paper also discusses the relevance of these principles in the digital age, emphasizing their role in shaping persuasive messages and influencing outcomes. The conclusion stresses the combined power of these elements in achieving communication success, offering insights into how businesses can effectively implement these strategies.

Running head: ETHOS, PATHOS AND LOGOS
Ethos, Pathos and Logos
Name of the Student:
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1ETHOS, PATHOS AND LOGOS
Persuasion is an important at of what the stories need to achieve and it is also
the same place where an understanding of the roles played by the political rhetoric
becomes the main point. Rhetoric at its core is referred to an art of persuasion and is
a power to make use of the device for verbal communication in order to change a
person’s mind through arguments and this has been a consistent interpretation for
over 2000 years, ever since Aristotle, the Greek philosopher first detected the three
main forms of rhetoric- ethos, pathos and logos (Tran 2016). He described the power
of the ethos, pathos and logos in convincing the mind of the people. The “modes of
persuasion” of Aristotle, which is otherwise known as the rhetorical appeals are
commonly known as the ethos, pathos and logos. These rhetorical appeals are the
means of persuading others in order to believe a specific point of view. These
appeals are generally used in advertising and speech writing in order to sway the
audiences. This paper will elaborate on how these Aristotelian appeals of the ethos,
pathos and logos have underpinned the persuasive communication for over the 2000
years. It will describe these appeals with relevant examples of their application in the
modern business communication and their importance in the digitalized world of
communication.
As according to Aristotle, rhetoric refers to the ability, in each specific case, in
order to see the present means of persuasion. In modern days, business makes use
of advertising their products and services and they consider it to be a communication
strategy. The advertising appeals are used by the marketing and the advertising
professionals in order to cater the attention and to persuade the customers for
buying or acting (Berlanga, Garcia-Garcia and Victoria 2013). In the theory of
rhetorical appeal, the idea of appeal dates back to the Aristotle, the one who had
identified the three primary appeals of communication, which are also known as the
rhetorical triangle. They are ethos, pathos and logos. In the modern language they
are known as appeal of credibility, emotion and logic respectively.
The term ethos, which is sometimes also referred to as an appeal to the
ethics, is generally used as a means to convince the audiences through the
creditability or authority of the persuader, either be it a significant or an experienced
figure in a particular field or be it a popular celebrity. In other words, it is the
credibility or trustworthiness of the speaker. It is essentially the credibility of a
business man, which is the reason for which people must believe what he is saying.

2ETHOS, PATHOS AND LOGOS
In many cases, ethos comes solely from the rank of the business man within an
organization. In modern days, the leaders build the ethos most efficiently through
demonstrating the technical expertise in a particular area and through displaying a
strong level of character and integrity (McCormack 2014). This strong level of
character and integrity convinces the audiences or the customers that the man is not
going to lie to them. As stated by Aristotle, “We believe fair minded people to a
greater extent and more quickly than we do others.” Hence, the very first level of
judgment which is casted by audiences is targeted at the credibility of the speakers.
Before a speaker takes a stage for speaking, the audience already starts to analyze
him different ways. Credibility is usually established through the perceptions of the
audiences on authority, respect, history, expertise, trustworthiness as well as
emotional and physical presentation.
Whether they are placed in corporate lobbies, retail stores or waiting rooms,
digital signs usually have to accomplish one of these two things- persuading the
audience for taking action and informing the audience. In this world of digital
signage, making use of ethos help to persuade the viewers is really hard (Kaplan
2014). Until and unless that content actually features someone who is both well-
respected and identifiable in the fields, the business cannot simply have enough time
to introduce its argument maker.
The term pathos, which is associated with an appeal to emotion, is a method
of swaying the audience of an argument through creating a response that is
emotional to a convincing story or an impassioned plea. It is all about making
emotional connection and attachment, which is essentially the main reason behind
why people believe the man is saying will surely matter to them. Hence, it is very
important of making emotional bond with the customers in business as it has a great
power to flourish a business and therefore, it is a critical area of competence for the
leaders in modern days. Giving the customers individual attention, being enthusiastic
regarding the progress of the organization as well as of the individuals that enable it
and taking active interest in the career development of the team members are the
ways in which the leaders do this well. In the end, pathos has indeed the greatest
impact on the perception of the followers of the effectiveness of the leaders as
communicators. As stated by Aristotle, “To understand the emotions—that is, to
name them and describe them, to know their causes and the way in which they are

3ETHOS, PATHOS AND LOGOS
excited.” Ability of tapping into the emotions of the audience could evoke the feelings
of connectedness as well as that of the motivation of acting and prescribing to the
thoughts and positions of the speakers (Dima, Teodorescu and Gifu 2014). It can be
attained through humor, vivid storytelling, engaging the delivery of information,
descriptive use of language and emphasizing emotionally in the words and themes.
There are many use of pathos in the content of digital signage. It is an appeal which
lends itself to the imagery.
However, it is also to note that all the empathy and the authority present in the
world would not really help if people do not understand what the business is talking
about or how it came to its conclusion. The term logos, the appeal to logic are a
method of persuading an audience with a reason by making use of the facts and
figures. It is the mode for appealing to the sense of reason to others. The modern
leaders express their logical ideas in compelling and clear terms in order to influence
the results or outcomes through employing strengths in problem solving, strategic
thinking as well as in analytical skills (Mshvenieradze 2013). While there are some
who get by on gut feeling. In this context, Aristotle has said that “Persuasion occurs
through the arguments when we show the truth or the apparent truth from whatever
is persuasive in each case” (MacDonnell 2016). It is to note that a clear and concise
argument, which is logical as well, provides substance to the message of the
speaker.
Hence, these three Aristotelian elements of communication reinforce each
other. Each of these three elements is extremely important for excellent
communication. Combing them is the path to achieve the expected success. They
are the core pillars of persuasion that have set the foundation for creating a
connection in between the speaker and the audience to be achieved. They are of a
great help in the modern world of digitalized business in making their communication
effective. Though these elements have been identified 2000 years ago, but they still
have the potential to change the communication issues of any business in an
effective one, if implemented collaboratively.

4ETHOS, PATHOS AND LOGOS
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Kaplan, R.B., 2014. Contrastive rhetoric and discourse analysis: Who writes what to
whom? When? In what circumstances?. In Discourse and social life (pp. 124-143).
MacDonnell, T.C., 2016. The Rhetoric of the Fourth Amendment: Toward a More
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McCormack, K.C., 2014. Ethos, pathos, and logos: The benefits of Aristotelian
rhetoric in the courtroom. Wash. U. Jurisprudence Rev., 7, p.131.
Mshvenieradze, T., 2013. Logos ethos and pathos in political discourse. Theory and
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