Aristotle's 3 Appeals

Aristotle stated that one could be most persuasive by following three basic appeals. He was thinking about oral speech, a specialty of the Greeks. But everything he argues works for writing as well. It works for all kinds of communication, in fact, --from films, reports and novels to telling a tale or asking for a favor, in person or via email. The First Appeal is Logical: The General Idea is supported by specific facts This Means: --Any speaker or writer who makes a general claim, must supply or be ready to supply the details, reasons, examples or explanations that led him or her to that general claim. --Any series of details, reasons, examples and explanations should also lead to an expressed General Idea.

The Second Appeal is Ethical/Social: Humans are social beings with Ideas about right and wrong, better and worse, comfortable and uncomfortable. But we often disagree about these issues. In communicating, we express our views, but also develop them the more our views come in contact with others. And when we plan our communication with others (whether asking our parents to lend us money or writing an essay), it makes sense to think a minute about what we already know or can guess about our audience's point of view on the topic. Considering our audience should give us a lot of direction...a lot of tips about how to plan our communication well.

The Third Appeal is Emotional/Visceral: Certain events, realities, ways of expressing language hit us not on a logical or a "community" level, but very basically. At our gut, as we say in English. That is the visceral level. This is the level of shock and repugnance when we hear something horrible...or a matter of pleasure, when language sings in an unexpectedly poetic way. Aristotle believed that to communicate well one must negotiate and handle all three Appeals. One or more of these appeals may not be relevant to your purpose or subject...but it is a good idea to think this over and to choose your strategy with awareness, not just randomly or instinctively.