Rhetoric

I view rhetoric as three literary techniques found in any piece of literature. Ethos involves ethical implications and one's self in an argument or standpoint. Pathos would focus on invoking empathy, sympathy, and an emotional response. Logos would concentrate on establishing credibility through logic and evidence.

In my experience rhetoric is often mentioned specifically when writing persuasive papers but it is found in all literature. Depending on the purpose of the paper different proportions of ethos, logos, and pathos should be used. A physics scientific journal would usually have more logos then pathos or ethos. It all depends though, if the physics journal involved cheap nuclear weapon manufacturing techniques then ethos could definitely be relevant. Ethos would benefit being coupled with pathos in order to elicit an emotional response in the reader and emphasize the impact nuclear proliferation might have on the world. A weather report would also likely be heavily logos centered, however, reports usually use subjective descriptions like "dismal' or "treacherous" which would be pathos and traveling advisory could involve ethos in dissuading people from endangering themselves and others if they venture out.

Isolating any of these devices is obviously problematic. Logos would have to be strictly reporting raw data which is possible, like writing an annual report about syesmic readings in a region. Pathos would be very difficult to isolate but a charity script for television might work, despite the fact that most state several statistics, some rely solely on a few heartfelt lines and the emotional impact of children with sad expressions. Ethos would be hard to distill as well, some creationist religious texts prescribe what is right and wrong without evidence or very much emotional appeal either.

Incorporating the right proportions of ethos, logos, and pathos is important when considering who is your audience and the objective you wish to achieve in your literature.


Isolating any of these three parts would be difficult. Even when you're not reading