6. WHAT IS MEANT BY PATHOS

Pathos- A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow.

source: Pathos. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/pathos

Pathos (Emotional) means persuading by appealing to the reader's emotions. We can look at texts ranging from classic essays to contemporary advertisements to see how pathos, emotional appeals, are used to persuade. Language choice affects the audience's emotional response, and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument.

Dangers exist with pathos, however. Emotional arguments tend to work best

with uneducated audiences who are too lazy to think things through. This

approach tends to obscure or conceal logical fallacies and inconsistencies,

which may be great for evil demagogues (Hitler comes to mind), but these

logical errors should be avoided in honest, open intellectual debate. Use

pathos to put spirit as well as intellect in your writing, but use it ethically,

rather than painting emotion over weak arguments too frail to stand up on

the merits of their reason alone.

As we read in this topic that Pathos are the way to persuade our audience emotionally. In this, speaker want his audience to feel the same way he does. Let us take an example of a child name Erick. Erick want to persuade his mom to order a pizza for him. So he may use pathos to persuade his mom by saying " hey mom, lets order a pizza. You know why i want pizza in lunch because i love pizzas. You know when i eat pizza it makes me feel happy." Now Erick's mom gets to think that she likes pizza too. It makes me happy and it makes Erick happy too. so i should order pizza for lunch. This is the way pathos work.


I want your examples or comments on this topic. i would be really appreciable. 


source: Wheelar, D. (n.d.). Rheotric. Pathos, Retrieved from http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/pathos.html