Scribd
Upload
11 views1 page

Understanding Ethos in Rhetoric

Ethos refers to a speaker or writer's credibility and character as perceived by their audience. According to Aristotle, ethos is crucial to persuasion and is established by convincing the audience that the author is a person of good moral character who is knowledgeable and has the audience's best interests in mind, not their own agenda. The Greeks called this concept of establishing trustworthiness and authority through character ethos.

Uploaded by

Molly Gum
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
11 views1 page

Understanding Ethos in Rhetoric

Ethos refers to a speaker or writer's credibility and character as perceived by their audience. According to Aristotle, ethos is crucial to persuasion and is established by convincing the audience that the author is a person of good moral character who is knowledgeable and has the audience's best interests in mind, not their own agenda. The Greeks called this concept of establishing trustworthiness and authority through character ethos.

Uploaded by

Molly Gum
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

E T H O S : What it is it?

If the audience doesn't trust a speaker or writer, it doesn't matter how emotionally moving a rhetorician's argument is, or how clear and brilliant that writer's logic is. Aristotle noted that sometimes trust alone is sufficient to persuade the audience if the speaker or writer appears to be trustworthy, knowledgeable, and benevolent. The Greeks had a word for this approach. They called it ethos. The word looks like this in Greek:

The term is sometimes translated as "ethics," or "authority," or "charisma." Ethos doesn't translate into English very well because it embodies all these things. Basically, to have good ethos, the writer must convince the audience of the following three traits. Good Character: The writer must appear to be an honest person of good moral character. Good Sense: The writer must appear to be a competent, intelligent person who knows what he or she is talking about (i.e., a person knowledgeable about the topic under discussion). Good Motives: The writer must appear to be interested in what's best for the reader or community rather than one motivated by self-interest or profit.

You might also like