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Examples Of Ethos Pathos Logos

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All authors, at varying levels, write with purpose. Ever written work has a purpose, varying from artistic creativity to academic and professional curiosity. Although the purpose is evident to the author, the reader may find difficulty determining what that purpose is. In the case of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) public release on Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the document’s purpose, as well as its intended audience, can be determined through an introspective analysis. One can use the three rhetorical appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos to determine the purpose of the CDC’s document, and give one’s self insight into the audience for which it is intended. The CDC is a government organization, which …show more content…

Logos can apply to the choice of information provided, as well as the format of information. When Aristotle first postulated his philosophy of rhetoric, in contrast to Plato’s, he included the appeal of logos to conform to the rationality of Greece in his day, a greatly underplayed concept during the mythological era before his time (Meyer, 2012). In the example of the CDC’s public release on AHDH, the CDC clearly represents logos by the format in which they present the document, as well as the fact that a need for the document exists. If one considers logos as the sole appeal of the document, one could assume that the intended audience is a collection of academics and persons with a professional interest in the subject. There are, however, additional rhetorical aspects to …show more content…

When one contemplates the credibility of the CDC, it is important to know who they are and where they come from. The CDC operates under the oversight of the HSS, as stated earlier. Guttman, Boccher-Lattimore, & Salmon (1998) found that the CDC, along with the Surgeon General, maintains a higher credibility rating than state-run and funded entities. It is also stated that, “Source credibility is a cornerstone of any successful information campaign” (Guttman et al., 1998, para. 4). When one accounts for these statements, the importance of credibility, as well as the credibility that the CDC has, one can view the CDC’s document as supporting the presence of ethos. Because of the importance of credibility, as well as the credibility of federal government agencies, the public release on ADHD appeals to caretakers, as well as those with an educational and professional

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