4 ms·

Ethos, Pathos, Logos. Remember that. Appeal to authority is only a logical fallacy -- it is, on the other hand, sound persuasive advice. Appeal to emotion is

by ibsulon 17y ago

Ethos, Pathos, Logos. Remember that. Appeal to authority is only a logical fallacy -- it is, on the other hand, sound persuasive advice. Appeal to emotion is only a logical fallacy -- it is, on the other hand, a valuable persuasive tool in many situations. Appeal to logic is, therefore, only part of the equation.

jmtulloss 17y ago
It is, however, a part of the equation. I think that's what the parent was trying to say.
azanar 17y ago
It is, however, the part of the equation least susceptible to abuse by those who want other people to act in an unwise fashion. A strong ethos or pathos could convince people to do something that a moment of thought would draw them strongly against. The original author is right that logical arguments alone do not persuade people in general, especially if that is all the persuader offers. I am not yet thirty, and have figured this out, so I guess I'm ahead. :-) However, I think it is tragic that logical arguments are not sufficient, nor even sometimes necessary for people to follow a particular philosophy or call to action. I don't understand the cause behind this behavior, but I can't imagine humankind being any worse off if people became more convinced that logic and reasoning do matter, and using them had concrete benefits. Ironically, making this appeal will likely involve the other two until acceptance of logic is sufficiently bootstrapped. I'll leave this with a quote from Sam Harris, which really put better words to this than I ever could. "There is no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable."
Ardit20 17y ago
However, both pathos and logos may be seen as short cut to logics. We live in a hierarchical society, therefore logically we expect the people who are above us to be smarter or know better than us therefore we trust them. That is based on logics. You know that the doctor has been studying for so many years and has been treating many other patients with the same issues as yours, therefore it is only logical to trust them. As for pathos, well that is ones instinct. It is the mind computing decisions without our concious logical critique of them, yet the mind is critiquing it logically, we just are not so aware of the computations and give the emotions names. It is logical to buy something you love rather than hate.

by ibsulon 17y ago

jmtulloss 17y ago

It is, however, a part of the equation. I think that's what the parent was trying to say.

azanar 17y ago

It is, however, the part of the equation least susceptible to abuse by those who want other people to act in an unwise fashion. A strong ethos or pathos could convince people to do something that a moment of thought would draw them strongly against. The original author is right that logical arguments alone do not persuade people in general, especially if that is all the persuader offers. I am not yet thirty, and have figured this out, so I guess I'm ahead. :-) However, I think it is tragic that logical arguments are not sufficient, nor even sometimes necessary for people to follow a particular philosophy or call to action. I don't understand the cause behind this behavior, but I can't imagine humankind being any worse off if people became more convinced that logic and reasoning do matter, and using them had concrete benefits. Ironically, making this appeal will likely involve the other two until acceptance of logic is sufficiently bootstrapped. I'll leave this with a quote from Sam Harris, which really put better words to this than I ever could. "There is no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable."

Ardit20 17y ago

However, both pathos and logos may be seen as short cut to logics. We live in a hierarchical society, therefore logically we expect the people who are above us to be smarter or know better than us therefore we trust them. That is based on logics. You know that the doctor has been studying for so many years and has been treating many other patients with the same issues as yours, therefore it is only logical to trust them. As for pathos, well that is ones instinct. It is the mind computing decisions without our concious logical critique of them, yet the mind is critiquing it logically, we just are not so aware of the computations and give the emotions names. It is logical to buy something you love rather than hate.