Ethos, Pathos, Logos: 3 Pillars of Public Speaking: Andrew Dlugan

Ethos, Pathos, Logos:
3 Pillars of Public Speaking

by Andrew Dlugan
Published: Jan 24th, 2010
2300 years ago, Aristotle wrote down the secret to being a

persuasive speaker, the secret which forms the basis for nearly
every public speaking book written since then.
Do you know the secret?
If you don’t, you might be wondering what a 2300-year-old
theory has to do with public speaking in the year 2010.
In a word — everything!
In this article, you’ll learn what ethos, pathos, and logos are
(the secret!), and what every speaker needs to understand about
these three pillars of public speaking.
What are Ethos, Pathos, and Logos?

So, what are ethos, pathos, and logos?
In simplest terms, they correspond to:
▪ Ethos: credibility (or character) of the speaker
▪ Pathos: emotional connection to the audience
▪ Logos: logical argument
Together, they are the three persuasive appeals. In other words,
these are the three essential qualities that your speech or
presentation must have before your audience will accept your
message.
Origins of Ethos, Pathos, Logos — On
Rhetoric by Aristotle
Three Pillars of Public Speaking
1 Ethos, Pathos, Logos - Introduction
2 Ethos - Speaker Credibility
▪ What is Ethos?
▪ How to Establish Ethos
3 Pathos - Emotional Connection
▪ What is Pathos?
▪ How to Develop Pathos
4 Logos - Logical Argument
▪ What is Logos?
▪ How to Convey Logos
Written in the 4th century B.C.E., the Greek philosopher Aristotle
compiled his thoughts on the art of rhetoric into On Rhetoric,
including his theory on the three persuasive appeals.
Many teachers of communication, speech, and rhetoric consider
Aristotle’s On Rhetoric to be a seminal work in the field. Indeed,
the editors of The Rhetoric of Western Thought: From the
Mediterranean World to the Global Setting call it “the most
important single work on persuasion ever written.” It is hard to
argue this claim; most advice from modern books can be traced
back to Aristotle’s foundations.
In The Classic Review, Sally van Noorden points to George

Kennedy’s modern translation as the standard reference text for
studying On Rhetoric. Kennedy’s translation is the source
that I use. (At the time of this writing, it is available from
amazon.com for $24.56, 18% off the list price.)
Ethos
Before you can convince an audience to accept anything you say,
they have to accept you as credible.
There are many aspects to building your credibility:
▪ Does the audience respect you?
▪ Does the audience believe you are of good character?
▪ Does the audience believe you are generally trustworthy?
▪ Does the audience believe you are an authority on this speech
topic?
Keep in mind that it isn’t enough for you to know that you are a
credible source. (This isn’t about your confidence, experience, or
expertise.) Your audience must know this. Ethos is your level of
credibility as perceived by your audience.
We will define ethos in greater detail, and we will study examples
of how to establish and build ethos.
Pathos
Pathos is the quality of a persuasive presentation which appeals
to the emotions of the audience.
▪ Do your words evoke feelings of … love? … sympathy? … fear?
▪ Do your visuals evoke feelings of compassion? … envy?
▪ Does your characterization of the competition evoke feelings of
hate? contempt?
Emotional connection can be created in many ways by a speaker,
perhaps most notably by stories. The goal of a story, anecdote,
analogy, simile, and metaphor is often to link an aspect of our
primary message with a triggered emotional response from the
audience.
We will study pathos in greater detail, and look at how to build
pathos by tapping into different audience emotions.
Logos
Logos is synonymous with a logical argument.
▪ Does your message make sense?
▪ Is your message based on facts, statistics, and evidence?
▪ Will your call-to-action lead to the desired outcome that you
promise?
We will see why logos is critical to your success, and examine
ways to construct a logical, reasoned argument.
Which is most important? Ethos?
Pathos? or Logos?
Suppose two speakers give speeches about a new corporate
restructuring strategy.
▪ The first speaker — a grade nine student — gives a flawless
speech pitching strategy A which is both logically sound and
stirs emotions.
▪ The second speaker — a Fortune 500 CEO — gives a boring
speech pitching strategy B.
Which speech is more persuasive? Is the CEO’s speech more
persuasive, simply because she has much more credibility
(ethos)?
Some suggest that pathos is the most critical of the three. In
You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard, Bert Decker says that
people buy on emotion (pathos) and justify with fact (logos).
True? You decide.
Aristotle believed that logos should be the most important of the
three persuasive appeals. As a philosopher and a master of
logical reasoning, he believed that logos should be the only
required persuasive appeal. That is, if you demonstrated logos,
you should not need either ethos or pathos.
However, Aristotle stated that logos alone is not sufficient. Not
only is it not sufficient on its own, but it is no more important
than either of the two other pillars. He argued that all three
persuasive appeals are necessary.
Is he right? What do you think?

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Ethos, Pathos, Logos:

3 Pillars of Public Speaking

2300 years ago, Aristotle wrote down the secret to being a

What are Ethos, Pathos, and Logos?

In The Classic Review, Sally van Noorden points to George

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