Pathos, Ethos, Logos. We probably heard those three words in English class before.
Aristotle once believed these three words culminated into the word “trust”: pathos refers to one’s attention to emotion, ethos refers to one’s credibility and character, and logos refers to one’s evidence and reasoning. Today, they are quintessential to the development of rhetoric, orally or in writing. While on the surface, these three may have equal importance, this is not the case—ethos is a poison that can overshadow its counterparts, pathos and logos.
Ethos feeds into pathos and logos. It can make someone seem credible even though they are spouting snake oil or diminish someone’s claims even though their evidence and reasoning (logos) and appeal to emotion (pathos) are sound.
Ethos applies to individuals, companies, and organizations. Take, for example, news networks; some have established themselves as right-leaning (e.g., FOX) or left-leaning (e.g., CNN). While editors inside these respective networks may have differing political views, public opinion often slaps the ethos branding of the company onto them. The opposite may be true: the ethos of an esteemed individual within an organization may cause public opinion to associate the organization with the individual’s ethos.
However, ethos is challenged with the rise of short, consumable media formats (e.g., TikTok). Attention is grabbed through an appeal to emotion and curiosity, while information is conveyed quickly and logically (in reasoning, albeit lacking evidence). Do TikTok users look up who is speaking or conveying the information? While some do, most keep scrolling—this curates a storm of false information and opinions that are based on facts that are not true. This is particularly dangerous in politics, where voters determine an outcome for others who may disagree.
Large fandoms and dictatorships are similar in that they surround one person or a group of people (the difference, of course, being that one is willing and the other not). However, some fans/citizens believe everything that comes from an individual/group’s mouth despite it not being logical; some may even feel a burst of emotion in pathos because that is who they believe in, overpowering rational thought against their ideals. This behavior is often seen in propaganda and is associated with overwhelming pride and trust in their country. That is why ethos (and its influence on pathos and logos) can be so dangerous—it can add fuel to the blazing flames of war.
Trust is a fickle concept; sometimes, we cannot even trust ourselves. Despite appeals to pathos, ethos, and logos, it is essential to cross-reference and learn what you believe in.
References:
Kennerly, M. (n.d.). Trust. https://sites.psu.edu/caskeywords/2022/06/25/trust/
Photo: Retro AdArchives / Alarmy