Ethos, Pathos and Legal Audience
Dickinson Law Review, Vol. 95, Fall 1994
25 Pages Posted: 4 Oct 2014
Date Written: 1994
Abstract
Modern lawyers who familiarize themselves with the over 2,000 year-old rhetorical principles of pathos and ethos as they appear in the works of Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian will be surprised by how valuable and timeless their insights are. In their works, all three men provide comprehensive, systematic and experience-based analyses of how Greco-Roman advocates used both the emotional content of their cases and their own personal credibility to persuade legal audiences. Modern practice manuals and treatises have increasingly taken into account the practical wisdom of all three men and show how their insights and advice apply to modern legal practice.
Keywords: classical rhetoric, ethos, pathos, legal discourse, audience, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian
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