Power to the Pathos!

1). Think of a speaker you admire (please do not use the President of the United States as an example).  Does his or her power to persuade come from ethos, pathos, or logos?  Think about your own ability to persuade others.  What personal qualities do you have that make you persuasive?  Does Aristotle's classification scheme work for them, or do they fit into another category?

I admire a number of modern American speakers, but for the purposes of this question I’m going to choose Oprah Winfrey for her overwhelming ability to persuade a wide variety of people from all three categories: ethos, pathos, and logos; However, although she persuades from an ethos base of trustworthiness and credibility, and her facts and sources are well researched and verifiable, I believe it is her pathos ability which is her strongest ally and greatest force of power to persuade an extensive and diverse audience.

As for my ability to persuade others, I think I, too, am best known for my pathos ability to reach the heart of others.  I am very passionate about most things I speak on, especially when it comes to protecting children, and addressing third world poverty, childhood slavery, or lack of education.  I use facts (logos), and am viewed as credible because of my humanitarian work overseas, but my primary source of power to move people to respond, definitely comes from pathos.

I think the classification scheme of Aristotle best works with my pathos ability in that I am able to align my presentation to deliver a difficult, often uncomfortable to hear message regarding starvation or childhood slavery, and make a palatable appeal to a wide variety of audiences, taking the setting, and status of that audience into consideration, and adapting appropriately so as to be effective.