Modes of Persuasion

Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosophers and scientist. His father died when he was a child, but he was a then adopted so that he can join Plato’s Academy in Athens(A well respected school in Greece at that time).  He is remembered by his writings that cover many subjects, such as; physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theather, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and government.

In his work “Rhetoric”, Aristotle talk about on the art of persuasion. Below is the quotations on his view towards persuasion:

” Persuasion is clearly a sort of demonstration, since we are most fully persuaded when we consider a thing to have been demonstrated. Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. [.ETHOS.] Persuasion is achieved by the speaker’s personal character when the speech was so spoken as to make us think him credible. [.PATHOS.] Secondly, persuasion may come through the hearers, when the speech stirs their emotions. [.LOGOS.] Thirdly, persuasion is effected through the speech itself when we have proved a truth or an apparent truth by means of the persuasive arguments suitable to the case in question. ”

Well.. in an essence, the art of persuasion is broken down into ethos, pathos, and logos.

Ethos is an appeal to the authority of credibility of the presenter. We can emphasize our credibility by knowing the audience values and appeal those values to support their idea. While convinces the audience that we are qualified to speak on those subjects.

Pathos is an appeal to the audience’s emotions.  We know that every human has emotion; love, hapiness, fear, disgust, and etc. As a presenter we must share our emotions and believe, so that the audience can understand what we are trying to say.

Logos is the logical appeal or the simulation of it. It means that when we presents a claim or thesis to an audience, we must also describes the facts and figures. So that we can convinces the audience that we are knowledgeable and prepared.

In certain cases, Kairos also needed.

Kairos means the right, critical, or opportune moment. So we must think through our momentum of speech, so that we can appeal the audience to fervently listen to us and believe in us.

If we use the techniques in good manner and fighting for the right idea, for everybody interest. We can contribute to the society and spread hapiness throughout our lives.

Well… “Modes of Persuasion” post is ended right here. Please tell me what do you think about this post. Have an awesome day!