Aristotle's Concept of Ethos: Persuasion through Character, Study notes of Communication

Download Aristotle's Concept of Ethos: Persuasion through Character and more Study notes Communication in PDF only on Docsity! Lecture 20 ETHOS "Persuasion is achieved by the speaker's personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think hum credible. We believe good men more fully and more readily than others: this is true generally whatever the question is, and absolutely true where exact certainty is impossible and opinions are divided. . . his character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion he possesses." Aristotle, Rhetoric 1.2.1356a.4-12 I. HISTORICALLY, TWO VIEWS OF ETHOS: 1. owned 2. created (an attribute) II. Aristotle held that Ethos was an artistic mode of persuasion, along with logos and pathos. That means it created by the speech itself. III. Aristotle identified three components of ethos - "habits of mind" 1. intelligence = "mental habits" -- phronesis 2. virtue = "moral habits" -- arete 3. good will = "emotional habits" -- These traits suggest that there is a moral dimension to ethos. These are not necessarily personality traits but character traits. IV. Discussion of the Clinton speeches V. Issues for rhetorical theory: 1. How does a positive judgment of speaker credibility come about? 2. How do we know when a speaker is lying, or isn't behaving credibly?