Chapter 2, titled Arguments Based on Emotion: Pathos was about how pathos has an important role in arguments. From my opinion, any argument I see that has pathos is the strongest. It just makes me feel more connected to the problem. The most obvious emotions visible in a visual argument are happy and sad. You can simply look at the subject and immediately tell the emotional state. Ads not only have to appeal to your emotions, but they could also intrigue you or persuade you to like a product. Companies do this by marketing. For an example, picture a good-looking male or female using a diet plan that is being advertised. Most people think that if the diet plan works well for that person, then the viewer thinks he will look like that. Using pathos verbally is also very strong. Most public speakers are very well in using words that really get the listeners attention. For an example, Barack Obama started his campaign for president by using the single emotion of hope. There are also special techniques to use in writing to persuade the reader emotionally. You can make them feel pity toward a certain situation, make them feel an impact, by, say, telling a moving story. But too much pity isn’t always good. Sometimes its could make a reader feel awkward or insecure. Another very important part of pathos is humor, and the happy side of feeling emotion. I feel like if something is funny to someone, they will remember it better. As told in the textbook, it’s hard to say no when you’re laughing. Using humor puts readers, viewers or listeners in ease and makes them understand the argument better. But not all humor is good. Too much or too strong of humor could be ridicule and offending. I posted a picture of an example of a strong emotion. It’s hard to not feel bad for this innocent infant who is crying.
I agree with you Holly, I believe that Pathos is the strongest out of the three because there is a great impact when sight is involved. There are things in our life that we have seen that we will never forget, and that is what the campaigns and companies are trying to do to us. I think that sight has more impact than any other the other senses because we can clearly remember it. I also believe like you that Pathos should use humor, shock or sadness to their visual argument. It helps the viewer when they are trying to relate to it. The photo you posted had a lot of emotion to it, you can clearly see that the child is upset and not happy, just from a glance. Visual arguments like that are definitely more memorable than ones that just have words. Ethos and Logos are important in their own ways but Pathos is obviously the most popular because it is everywhere you turn and there is no doubting that. Logos can only take you so far with facts and facts are black and white where each person may take Pathos in a different way, you get different reactions. I also liked your example of Obama. Pathos obviously worked for him since he is the President of the United States now. His message and argument of "hope" is what our country really needed at the time of election and he knew how to use that with his campaign.
ReplyDelete