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Ethos Logos Pathos

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Ethos Logos Pathos
Classical Principles of Argument Paper

Eng/215
May 07, 2013
Guy Houk

Classical Principles of Argument Paper

When writing a persuasive, argumentative, or when making a claim there is one goal, that is to reach the audience, and persuade them to what the essay is saying. Authors will use tools when writing so they can reach a targeted audience, and have the audience persuaded to the authors way of thinking. A synthesis is bringing to arguments together allowing for a comparison or a contrast, rebuttal, or accumulation with supporting points. Authors will also use ethos; this is where an author is well respected and their audience will believe most anything they say. Pathos is where an author will use emotional to persuade their audience. Then we have logos this is where the author uses reasoning to pull their audience in and persuade them one way or another. All these tools are known the classic principles of arguments. (Lamm & Everett, 2007)

In the essay written “The Water Revealed” written by Jim Wallis, Willis uses all three appeals in his argument. Hurricane Katrina was a devastating natural disaster that everyone around the world remembers. Hurricane Katrina produced so much water that the levees around New Orleans could not withstand the pressure and the levees broke. Was it really Katrina that caused all the damage in New Orleans or was it the fact that the levees could not sustain the level of the water that was rising and thus broke. Wallis shed light to the ugliness that most Americans were not aware, and the media did not cover. If Americans were fully aware of it and only decides to turn the other cheek and pretend its non-existent chooses to ignore it. Hurricane Katrina did not only destroy homes, businesses it also destroyed lives. The essay reflects on our society's reluctance to admit how poverty and race correlates to our American society. (Lamm & Everett, 2007)

Wallis uses pathos when he writes “The faces of those stranded

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