Aristotle wrote these words:
Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself.
These three modes of persuasion are ethos, meaning disposition or character; pathos, which emotion or passion; and logos, meaning argument or discourse.

Ethos has to do with who you are, how you present yourself, the way in which you speak and your individual character or integrity. He said that “We believe good men more fully and more readily than others.” An example of this appeal is a speaker who says “I’ve served in the Senate for 24 years…,” an appeal from the speaker’s experience.

Pathos involves stirring up people’s emotions and includes appeals to people’s pity, anger, fear, hope, and the like. An example of an emotional appeal is the anti-gun advocate who says, “We must outlaw guns if our children are to be kept safe,” an appeal to the listener’s fears and values.

Finally, logos is argumentation and includes arguments, data, statistics, and all types of reasoning. An example of a logical appeal is the statement “Research data demonstrates that commuters have a much higher stress factor than those who work at home,” an appeal to statistics.

In considering which of the three is the most powerful, we should be aware that Aristotle didn’t think much of the emotional appeal. He wrote, “The arousing of prejudice, pity, anger, and similar emotions has nothing to do with the essential facts, but is merely a personal appeal to the man who is judging the case.” At the same time he did not give much credence to the ethical appeal. His preference was that the logical appeal was the most important because he conceived of rhetoric as