#rhetoric **_Ethos_** is an appeal to **the speaker's character or credibility**. It is one of the [[three rhetorical appeals]], along with [[logos]] (logic) and [[pathos]] (emotions). ### Ethos and audience As with all things [[rhetoric]], the answer as to what makes the "best" ethos [[the key to rhetoric is audience, audience, audience|is all about audience, audience, audience]]. Consider, for example, different reactions to someone like [[Bernie Sanders]]. The traits and ethos that, for some audiences, just make him seem "angry" or "shouty," for other audiences makes him seem real and genuine, as though he actually, y'know, cares. The viral video, "[Rising Up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZhkKATtqtU)," played on precisely this disconnect. With this in mind, good speaker always [[a speaker tunes themselves to their audience|tunes themselves]] and their ethos to their audience with various strategies, such as an [[I was once like you...]] story. ### Ethos is subtle and ongoing Appeals to ethos rarely mean saying, "Hey, I have a good character and you should trust me." Ethos is [[ethos is more subtle and performative|more subtle and performative]]. Indeed, everything you say and do — your way of *approaching* the topic — establishes your ethos. In a sense, it's rarely an explicit "appeal." It's a cooler, ongoing thing.[^1] ### 🏗 Ethos and Rhetorical Structure In terms of 🏗 [[rhetorical structure|structure]], the most explicit "appeals" to ethos generally [[ethos makes sense at the beginning of a speech|makes sense at the beginning]] of a speech. However, in actual practice, it's really more of an all-the-time kinda thing—you're always establashing or performing your ethos. It's a very cool, ongoing thing. ### Ethos across genres [[different rhetorical moves manifest differently in different genres|Different rhetorical moves manifest differently in different genres]]. How you establish _ethos_ in a poltiical speech versus how you establish _ethos_ in an academic article is very different. You still do it, and often you do it at the same *point* in the speech... but it just manifests a bit differently. [^1]: This is in contrast to pathos, which is more violent and momentary. (See [[Quintilian on ethos vs pathos]].)