Aristotle's Secrets of Elocution

Aristotle was one of the first people, who devoted a whole book to rhetoric principles and methods. According to the ancient Greek philosopher, elocution and dialectics are linked not only with one particular field, but embrace all spheres of human life. Under the term “rhetoric” Aristotle meant an ability to find all kinds of ways of conviction.

One of the most ancient methods of conviction is Aristotle's conception, which divides all possible arguments of the speaker into tree groups: ethos, logos, and pathos. There are three human criteria, which appear as the basis of such division: emotional, mental, and moral. They are used to convince listeners of something. But nowadays we often come across a sequence of “ethos pathos logos kairos.” This article will explain all four elements and how to correctly use them during a public speech.

Logos (in translation from Greek – word, thought, sense, intention, notion) is an ancient Greek philosophy term, which was used to describe verbal tools for implementation of speech conception and its comprehension by the listeners. In other words, logos is any written text, which includes only the string of logic of the author's assertion.

Pathos (in translation from Greek – excitement, passion, enthusiasm, suffering) is a rhetorical category that is aligned with manner, style, or mode of expression of feelings, which are characterized by emotional sublimity and inspiration. Pathos usually means all elements of argumentation, which influence the listeners emotionally.

Ethos (in translation from Greek – character, disposition, temper) meant the habits, morals, temperament, and origins in ancient philosophy. Ethos is a more stable moral element of argumentation, which is often set against pathos as a temporary emotional stress. According to Aristotle, ethos is a method of representation of human character through the style of his/her speech, and purposefulness as the main marker of human activity. These conditions regard with time, place, duration of speech, and define the part of speech's contours: theme, composition parts of the speech plan, or separate words. Inappropriate speech won't be conceived by listeners even with the strongest arguments (logos). The main criterion of appropriateness is the theme of the speech, as long as the time, place, and speech duration are agreed between all communication participants.

Source: wr1ter.com