http://www.csupomona.edu/~uwc/pdf/rhetoric---teacher-version.pdf
http://www.dsusd.us/users/christopherg/op.ed.html
“Three Ways to Persuade” by John Edlund
“Three Ways to Persuade” by John Edlund
The art of persuasion was a mainstay of Aristotle's teachings over 2000 years ago. Aristotle taught three persuasion techniques, which he called ethos, pathos and logos. These techniques have been employed by writers and speakers ever since to change the minds of others. The technique that works the best depends on the audience that the writer or speaker is addressing. For writers, it is best to keep in mind that they are meeting their readers face-to-face and that their reading public may be wide spread across the state, the nation, or around the world. With that in mind, that writers won't always know which persuasive technique will work the best, so they should make use of all three forms of persuasion.
Ethos, Logos, Pathos in Brief
In the art of persuasion, writers will need to use these three techniques:
Ethos makes use of the writer's credibility as an expert or reputation within the community. Readers may not accept a writer's argument if the writer has a less-than-clean reputation, or if the writer is trying to discuss a topic on which he or she has absolutely no expertise. If the writer is trying to begin a reputation with a new audience or beginning to gain a reputation as an expert in a specific field, then that writer should not only behave consistently, but should be consistent in his or her writing skills and have an aptitude for adequately researching his or her topics. If beginning writers don't yet their topic inside and out, then they must go out of their way to research every bit of information they can find, and study, study, study until they can come across as someone who knows what they are talking about. In other words, if you're not an expert, become one. If the writer can discuss a topic, and explain it in ways that readers can easily comprehend, then readers will come to view the writer as an expert much more quickly.
LOGOS. the Writer Uses Logic and Reasoning
Writer's convince their readers that the writers' argument is sound, or persuade readers to change their minds, by presenting their material in a rational, chronological style. The writers' arguments must be backed up with specifics, sound analysis and verifiable evidence. Writers can strengthen their credibility by adding charts and tables, statistics, photos and first-hand experiences to the piece they are writing. The specifics, analysis, and evidence as well as the charts, tables, statistics, photos and first-hand experiences - either all of them together, or in any combination - will help to convince readers that the writers' arguments are valid, which makes it easier for readers to agree with them. If writers can make use of metaphors, analogies and similes, they can help their readers connect the writers' arguments with experiences and circumstances in their own lives. When writers make these sorts of connections, they are more likely to persuade their readers.
PATHOS, the Writer Appeals to the Emotions
Writers, of course, can always appeal to their readers' emotions in order to get them to take action. Stirring the readers' emotions, may inflame their sensibilities or rouse their interests. Through the use of certain keywords, pathos can be directed toward the readers' goals, values or beliefs (i.e. pain, their children, threats to their community). Pathos is a means of giving readers relief from their emotional needs. When reading a piece with emotional appeal, readers are looking for the writer to:
California State University, Los Angeles: Ethos, Logos, Pathos: Three Ways to Persuade, by Dr. John R. Edlund
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6947216
Ethos, Logos, Pathos in Brief
In the art of persuasion, writers will need to use these three techniques:
- an ethical appeal (ethos) to sway readers based on their moral fiber and trustworthiness and integrity.
- a logical appeal (logos) to persuade readers through the use of rational analysis and logic.
- an emotional appeal (pathos) to change the readers' minds by stirring up their emotions.
Ethos makes use of the writer's credibility as an expert or reputation within the community. Readers may not accept a writer's argument if the writer has a less-than-clean reputation, or if the writer is trying to discuss a topic on which he or she has absolutely no expertise. If the writer is trying to begin a reputation with a new audience or beginning to gain a reputation as an expert in a specific field, then that writer should not only behave consistently, but should be consistent in his or her writing skills and have an aptitude for adequately researching his or her topics. If beginning writers don't yet their topic inside and out, then they must go out of their way to research every bit of information they can find, and study, study, study until they can come across as someone who knows what they are talking about. In other words, if you're not an expert, become one. If the writer can discuss a topic, and explain it in ways that readers can easily comprehend, then readers will come to view the writer as an expert much more quickly.
LOGOS. the Writer Uses Logic and Reasoning
Writer's convince their readers that the writers' argument is sound, or persuade readers to change their minds, by presenting their material in a rational, chronological style. The writers' arguments must be backed up with specifics, sound analysis and verifiable evidence. Writers can strengthen their credibility by adding charts and tables, statistics, photos and first-hand experiences to the piece they are writing. The specifics, analysis, and evidence as well as the charts, tables, statistics, photos and first-hand experiences - either all of them together, or in any combination - will help to convince readers that the writers' arguments are valid, which makes it easier for readers to agree with them. If writers can make use of metaphors, analogies and similes, they can help their readers connect the writers' arguments with experiences and circumstances in their own lives. When writers make these sorts of connections, they are more likely to persuade their readers.
PATHOS, the Writer Appeals to the Emotions
Writers, of course, can always appeal to their readers' emotions in order to get them to take action. Stirring the readers' emotions, may inflame their sensibilities or rouse their interests. Through the use of certain keywords, pathos can be directed toward the readers' goals, values or beliefs (i.e. pain, their children, threats to their community). Pathos is a means of giving readers relief from their emotional needs. When reading a piece with emotional appeal, readers are looking for the writer to:
- make a personal connection with them.
- show them what actions they should take to make the problem right.
- give them advice on how to accept certain circumstances and events.
- provide them the opportunity to belong to a group.
California State University, Los Angeles: Ethos, Logos, Pathos: Three Ways to Persuade, by Dr. John R. Edlund
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6947216
A Change of Heart About Animals
They are more like us than we imagined, scientists are finding
by Jeremy Rifkin Though much of big science has centered on breakthroughs in biotechnology, nanotechnology and more esoteric questions like the age of our universe, a quieter story has been unfolding behind the scenes in laboratories around the world — one whose effect on human perception and our understanding of life is likely to be profound.
What these researchers are finding is that many of our fellow creatures are more like us than we had ever imagined. They feel pain, suffer and experience stress, affection, excitement and even love — and these findings are changing how we view animals.
Strangely enough, some of the research sponsors are fast food purveyors, such as McDonald's, Burger King and KFC. Pressured by animal rights activists and by growing public support for the humane treatment of animals, these companies have financed research into, among other things, the emotional, mental and behavioral states of our fellow creatures.
Studies on pigs' social behavior funded by McDonald's at Purdue University, for example, have found that they crave affection and are easily depressed if isolated or denied playtime with each other. The lack of mental and physical stimuli can result in deterioration of health.
The European Union has taken such studies to heart and outlawed the use of isolating pig stalls by 2012. In Germany, the government is encouraging pig farmers to give each pig 20 seconds of human contact each day and to provide them with toys to prevent them from fighting.
Other funding sources have fueled the growing field of study into animal emotions and cognitive abilities.
Researchers were stunned recently by findings (published in the journal Science) on the conceptual abilities of New Caledonian crows. In controlled experiments, scientists at Oxford University reported that two birds named Betty and Abel were given a choice between using two tools, one a straight wire, the other a hooked wire, to snag a piece of meat from inside a tube. Both chose the hooked wire. Abel, the more dominant male, then stole Betty's hook, leaving her with only a straight wire. Betty then used her beak to wedge the straight wire in a crack and bent it with her beak to produce a hook. She then snagged the food from inside the tube. Researchers repeated the experiment and she fashioned a hook out of the wire nine of out of 10 times.
Equally impressive is Koko, the 300-pound gorilla at the Gorilla Foundation in Northern California, who was taught sign language and has mastered more than 1,000 signs and understands several thousand English words. On human IQ tests, she scores between 70 and 95.
Tool-making and the development of sophisticated language skills are just two of the many attributes we thought were exclusive to our species. Self-awareness is another.
Some philosophers and animal behaviorists have long argued that other animals are not capable of self-awareness because they lack a sense of individualism. Not so, according to new studies. At the Washington National Zoo, orangutans given mirrors explore parts of their bodies they can't otherwise see, showing a sense of self. An orangutan named Chantek who lives at the Atlanta Zoo used a mirror to groom his teeth and adjust his sunglasses.
Of course, when it comes to the ultimate test of what distinguishes humans from the other creatures, scientists have long believed that mourning for the dead represents the real divide. It's commonly believed that other animals have no sense of their mortality and are unable to comprehend the concept of their own death. Not necessarily so. Animals, it appears, experience grief. Elephants will often stand next to their dead kin for days, occasionally touching their bodies with their trunks.
We also know that animals play, especially when young. Recent studies in the brain chemistry of rats show that when they play, their brains release large amounts of dopamine, a neurochemical associated with pleasure and excitement in human beings.
Noting the striking similarities in brain anatomy and chemistry of humans and other animals, Stephen M. Siviy, a behavioral scientist at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, asks a question increasingly on the minds of other researchers. "If you believe in evolution by natural selection, how can you believe that feelings suddenly appeared, out of the blue, with human beings?"
Until very recently, scientists were still advancing the idea that most creatures behaved by sheer instinct and that what appeared to be learned behavior was merely genetically wired activity. Now we know that geese have to teach their goslings their migration routes. In fact, we are finding that learning is passed on from parent to offspring far more often than not and that most animals engage in all kinds of learned experience brought on by continued experimentation.
So what does all of this portend for the way we treat our fellow creatures? And for the thousands of animals subjected each year to painful laboratory experiments? Or the millions of domestic animals raised under the most inhumane conditions and destined for slaughter and human consumption? Should we discourage the sale and purchase of fur coats? What about fox hunting in the English countryside, bull fighting in Spain? Should wild lions be caged in zoos?
Such questions are being raised. Harvard and 25 other U.S. law schools have introduced law courses on animal rights, and an increasing number of animal rights lawsuits are being filed. Germany recently became the first nation to guarantee animal rights in its constitution.
The human journey is, at its core, about the extension of empathy to broader and more inclusive domains. At first, the empathy extended only to kin and tribe. Eventually it was extended to people of like-minded values. In the 19th century, the first animal humane societies were established. The current studies open up a new phase, allowing us to expand and deepen our empathy to include the broader community of creatures with whom we share the Earth.
Jeremy Rifkin, author of "The Biotech Century" (Tarcher Putnam, 1998), is the president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C.
Copyright 2003 Los Angeles Times
They are more like us than we imagined, scientists are finding
by Jeremy Rifkin Though much of big science has centered on breakthroughs in biotechnology, nanotechnology and more esoteric questions like the age of our universe, a quieter story has been unfolding behind the scenes in laboratories around the world — one whose effect on human perception and our understanding of life is likely to be profound.
What these researchers are finding is that many of our fellow creatures are more like us than we had ever imagined. They feel pain, suffer and experience stress, affection, excitement and even love — and these findings are changing how we view animals.
Strangely enough, some of the research sponsors are fast food purveyors, such as McDonald's, Burger King and KFC. Pressured by animal rights activists and by growing public support for the humane treatment of animals, these companies have financed research into, among other things, the emotional, mental and behavioral states of our fellow creatures.
Studies on pigs' social behavior funded by McDonald's at Purdue University, for example, have found that they crave affection and are easily depressed if isolated or denied playtime with each other. The lack of mental and physical stimuli can result in deterioration of health.
The European Union has taken such studies to heart and outlawed the use of isolating pig stalls by 2012. In Germany, the government is encouraging pig farmers to give each pig 20 seconds of human contact each day and to provide them with toys to prevent them from fighting.
Other funding sources have fueled the growing field of study into animal emotions and cognitive abilities.
Researchers were stunned recently by findings (published in the journal Science) on the conceptual abilities of New Caledonian crows. In controlled experiments, scientists at Oxford University reported that two birds named Betty and Abel were given a choice between using two tools, one a straight wire, the other a hooked wire, to snag a piece of meat from inside a tube. Both chose the hooked wire. Abel, the more dominant male, then stole Betty's hook, leaving her with only a straight wire. Betty then used her beak to wedge the straight wire in a crack and bent it with her beak to produce a hook. She then snagged the food from inside the tube. Researchers repeated the experiment and she fashioned a hook out of the wire nine of out of 10 times.
Equally impressive is Koko, the 300-pound gorilla at the Gorilla Foundation in Northern California, who was taught sign language and has mastered more than 1,000 signs and understands several thousand English words. On human IQ tests, she scores between 70 and 95.
Tool-making and the development of sophisticated language skills are just two of the many attributes we thought were exclusive to our species. Self-awareness is another.
Some philosophers and animal behaviorists have long argued that other animals are not capable of self-awareness because they lack a sense of individualism. Not so, according to new studies. At the Washington National Zoo, orangutans given mirrors explore parts of their bodies they can't otherwise see, showing a sense of self. An orangutan named Chantek who lives at the Atlanta Zoo used a mirror to groom his teeth and adjust his sunglasses.
Of course, when it comes to the ultimate test of what distinguishes humans from the other creatures, scientists have long believed that mourning for the dead represents the real divide. It's commonly believed that other animals have no sense of their mortality and are unable to comprehend the concept of their own death. Not necessarily so. Animals, it appears, experience grief. Elephants will often stand next to their dead kin for days, occasionally touching their bodies with their trunks.
We also know that animals play, especially when young. Recent studies in the brain chemistry of rats show that when they play, their brains release large amounts of dopamine, a neurochemical associated with pleasure and excitement in human beings.
Noting the striking similarities in brain anatomy and chemistry of humans and other animals, Stephen M. Siviy, a behavioral scientist at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, asks a question increasingly on the minds of other researchers. "If you believe in evolution by natural selection, how can you believe that feelings suddenly appeared, out of the blue, with human beings?"
Until very recently, scientists were still advancing the idea that most creatures behaved by sheer instinct and that what appeared to be learned behavior was merely genetically wired activity. Now we know that geese have to teach their goslings their migration routes. In fact, we are finding that learning is passed on from parent to offspring far more often than not and that most animals engage in all kinds of learned experience brought on by continued experimentation.
So what does all of this portend for the way we treat our fellow creatures? And for the thousands of animals subjected each year to painful laboratory experiments? Or the millions of domestic animals raised under the most inhumane conditions and destined for slaughter and human consumption? Should we discourage the sale and purchase of fur coats? What about fox hunting in the English countryside, bull fighting in Spain? Should wild lions be caged in zoos?
Such questions are being raised. Harvard and 25 other U.S. law schools have introduced law courses on animal rights, and an increasing number of animal rights lawsuits are being filed. Germany recently became the first nation to guarantee animal rights in its constitution.
The human journey is, at its core, about the extension of empathy to broader and more inclusive domains. At first, the empathy extended only to kin and tribe. Eventually it was extended to people of like-minded values. In the 19th century, the first animal humane societies were established. The current studies open up a new phase, allowing us to expand and deepen our empathy to include the broader community of creatures with whom we share the Earth.
Jeremy Rifkin, author of "The Biotech Century" (Tarcher Putnam, 1998), is the president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C.
Copyright 2003 Los Angeles Times