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last.updated 5.20.09

Ethos

Purpose

Ethos, the appeal to character, has been conceived many different ways throughout history, from Aristotle's categories to the postmodern fragmented subjectivity. In any case, it is important for the rhetor to understand how one's own presence shapes their message. We will discuss the range of perspectives on ethos and examine how others can influence how we make appeals based upon our own character.

Discussion–Who am I?

As a class, we will address the following questions...

• What questions do you have about the readings?
• How does Aristotle define ethos? What are the limitations of his drawn out discussion on ethos (Book 2, chapters 12-17)? Which of his stereotypes still resonate today? If we were to develop a category for "the character of the young," what would this look like?
• Butler never mentions the word ethos, therefore how is what she discusses related to establishing one's character? What are the implications of her discussion for establishing one's character?
• How does Cherry distinguish ethos and persona? What objections do you think Aristotle might have to his use of ethos? In what ways would you make this distinction useful to the ways we think about the teaching of writing? the composition of professional writing texts?

Activity–Interpellation and the Interface

The instructor will talk about Althusser, interpellation, and how this affects one's ethos. In pairs you will...

• open MS Word on your computer
• look through the various menu options asking the questions:
  • Who does the program designer imagine me to be?
  • How does the decisions the designer made affect how I establish my ethos?
  • If I were the designer, what revisions would I want to make?

After addressing these issues for thirty minutes we will reconvene as a class and discuss our conclusions.