3 Rhetorical Appeals

Overview

In this chapter, you’ll explore the primary rhetorical appeals, or strategies, that communicators can use to persuade their audiences. You’ll learn how each appeal targets different aspects of audience engagement: ethos builds credibility, pathos evokes emotion, logos relies on logical reasoning, and kairos emphasizes the importance of timing and context.

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

Although he lived over 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle is perhaps the most famous rhetorician. He defined rhetoric as “the ability to identify the available means of persuasion in a given situation.” By this, he meant that rhetoric was not just the ability to be persuasive, but rather a system for understanding what forms of persuasion might be most effective given a specific purpose, audience, context, etc. To help speakers identify the most effective strategies, he classified different kinds of persuasion and different purposes for rhetoric. You may have heard of the “rhetorical appeals” that Aristotle defined: ethos, pathos, and logos — and their more forgotten partner, kairos (Aristotle).

Figure 3.1. A quick unpacking of rhetorical appeals (Rhetorical_Appeals_Accessible [New Tab])

Watch the short video below for an overview of Aristotle’s ideas about the three key rhetorical appeals, or ways of persuading an audience: ethos, pathos, and logos.

Watch: “How To Use Rhetoric to Get What You Want” (~4 mins)

While the video above provides examples to illustrate each appeal (ethos, pathos, and logos), you might be curious about how these appeals work together — and what happens when one or more elements are missing. Watch the short video below for a case study that explores how ethos, pathos, and logos interact — and why people don’t realize there’s a world-famous violinist in the subway!

Watch: “What Aristotle and Joshua Bell Can Teach Us about Persuasion” (~4 mins)

Finally, you might want more examples of how a communicator can deliberately generate ethos, pathos, and logos through both verbal and nonverbal communication. Former President Barack Obama, widely considered to be a master communicator, strategically incorporates all three appeals into almost every one of his speeches. Check out the short video below to see these strategies in action.

Watch: “Example of Logos, Pathos, and Ethos” from Obama’s Speech on Bin Laden (~2 mins)

Kairos

OK, so we’ve mostly focused on the “Big 3”: ethos, pathos, and logos. But what about that other one, kairos? Kairos, also called “the opportune moment,” has to do with capitalizing on the specific circumstances of a given context.

For example, a speaker might reference what’s happening around them — like acknowledging a fire engine outside the window. They might also take advantage of the larger social and historical context — like a candidate for mayor using a sports metaphor during the Olympics.

Kairos in the Real World — Money and Memes

Let’s think of some other examples. For instance, let’s say you want to ask one of your parents for some money. According to rhetorical theory, you need to find the right moment to persuade your parent to give you the money you want/need. Do you pounce at your mom the minute she walks in the door, hungry and tired after a long day at work? Do you yell at the top of your lungs that you need some money right now? Or, do you find a moment when your mom is relaxing, maybe after you bring her a cold drink or give her a shoulder massage?

Why are memes so funny? And why are a lot of old memes confusing or meaningless? Do you remember taking the PSAT or AP Exams? What happened in the hours after that national test? Instagram and Twitter were flooded with memes about the reading passages. They were hilarious for a few days but completely meaningless a month later (maybe even a week later). This is because the moment was kairotic for rhetorical humor right after the test, but not later.

Watch the following short video for more information on kairos and how it can be used persuasively.

Watch: “Kairos in Rhetoric” (~3 mins)

Test Your Knowledge

Activity: Applying the Rhetorical Appeals (and Watching Gavin Newsom “Manifest”!)

Now, you’ll have a chance to see these appeals in action by analyzing California governor Gavin Newsom’s short speech endorsing Joe Biden for president at the 2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC).

First, a little bit about the rhetorical situation [Chapter 2]. In terms of context, the DNC is held every four years in the lead-up to the presidential election (the Republicans have one, too: the Republican National Convention, or RNC). The DNC’s official purpose is to select the Democratic candidate for president. But, in practice, the candidate is most often already a foregone conclusion, and the point of the DNC is to generate support and rally the party behind the candidate. Influential Democrats voice their support for the chosen candidate in short (or long) statements.

In 2020, the DNC was held virtually because, as you probably remember, there was a global pandemic. So, important Democrats (like Newsom) sent in video statements instead. Most politicians filmed their statements inside, often in front of bookshelves in their offices (see the image below for an example).

The use of backgrounds like this, popularized during the pandemic, generated the term “credibility bookshelf” [Website], which may prompt us to think about why the visual symbol of books and bookshelves was thought to create “ethos,” or credibility. But Newsom did not film his statement inside an office or living room — so what else is he doing to generate ethos (and pathos and logos)?

As you watch Newsom’s 2020 DNC address, consider the following:

• How is he using ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos appeals? Provide specific examples.
• You may also want to consider other elements of the rhetorical situation — what does he seem to assume about his audience? What values, experiences, and priorities does he attribute to them? What “exigences” or problems is he raising as reasons for his address? Why might raising multiple “exigences” help him achieve his purpose?

Watch: Gavin Newsom’s Speech from the 2020 Democratic National Convention (~2 mins)

Your Turn: Applying Rhetorical Appeals

Now that you’ve identified rhetorical appeals in action, you’ll want to use them in your own arguments.

Use the questions and suggestions in the resource below to help you generate different strategies for appealing to ethos, pathos, logos, and kairos.

• Rhetorical Appeals Checklist for Writers [Website] (note that although this is framed as a resource for “writers,” it can be equally applied to communicating in other modalities, like speaking and digital communication).

Further Reading and Resources

• “Rhetorical Appeals: An Overview” [Website]
• “What is Kairos? Definition & Examples” [Website]
• “Science of Persuasion” [YouTube video]

Works Cited

Aristotle. Rhetoric. Translated by W. Rhys Roberts. The Rhetoric and Poetics of Aristotle, Modern Library, 1954, Book I, Chapter 2.

Barney, Tiffany Buckingham. “A Quick Unpacking of Rhetorical Appeals.” A Quick Unpacking of Rhetorical Appeals, licensed under a CC BY-NC (Attribution NonCommercial) license, pressbooks.pub/openenglishatslcc/chapter/unpacking-the-process-of-rhetoric/.

Edward-Mangione, Angela. “Rhetorical Appeals: An Overview.” Writing Commons, writingcommons.org/section/rhetoric/rhetorical-reasoning/rhetorical-appeals/.

“Inigo Montoya Meme.” Imgflip, uploaded by an Imgflip user, 2023, imgflip.com/memetemplate/457006634/I-Dont-Think-That-Memes-What-You-Think-It-Memes-Meme.

Meredith, Leigh. Screenshot of Stacey Abrams DNC Video. YouTube, uploaded by PBS NewsHour, 19 Aug. 2020, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25RVGSkC7WA.

PBS NewsHour. “WATCH: Gavin Newsom’s full speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.” YouTube, 21 Aug. 2020, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqGJlDwqNcw.

Regan, Danielle. “Example of Logos, Pathos, Ethos.” YouTube, 5 May 2014, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc1TrKIzAJM.

Froese, Ryan. “Kairos in Rhetoric.” YouTube, 31 Oct. 2017, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbB53knPZSI.

Science of Persuasion. YouTube, uploaded by influenceatwork, 26 Nov. 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw.

TED-Ed. “How to use rhetoric to get what you want – Camille A. Langston.” YouTube, 20 Sept. 2016, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3klMM9BkW5o.

TED-Ed. “What Aristotle and Joshua Bell can teach us about persuasion – Conor Neill.” YouTube, 14 Jan. 2014, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2dEuMFR8kw.

“What is Kairos? Definition & Examples.” Boords, 2023, boords.com/ethos-pathos-logos/what-is-kairos.

Attributions

This chapter was written by Cathy Gabor and Leigh Meredith.