Artistic Proofs According to Aristotle, artistic proofs make up the techne of rhetoric. The three artistic proofs that are taught by the art of rhetoric are ethos or human character and goodness, logos or arguments and logical reasoning and pathos or the names and causes of various emotions. We can go into more depth of each artistic proof of rhetoric as conceived by Aristotle. Ethos, the sociology of good character, is discussed by Aristotle with him recognizing the persuasive potential of the speaker’s personal credibility. In order to establish ethos, the speaker must exhibit intelligence and good sense, virtue and goodwill. Ethos of a speaker or a writer is created largely by the choice of words he or she makes in order …show more content…
Application
Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is noted as one of the most powerful and moving speeches in American history. This speech appeals to the three artistic proofs of classical rhetoric. This speech appeals to ethos due to the fact that the President of the United States is giving this address to the audience, the nation. Throughout his Presidency, Abraham Lincoln had always displayed intelligence, virtue and goodwill towards his nation which gained him much credibility. “Every word is almost perfectly chosen” (Goodwin), and with the topic at hand of the battle, Lincoln knew exactly what to say, to who and why. This is a speech that was orated in 1863, and is still be talked about and is one of the best known in American history. The appeal to logos is clear. Though at the time, many may not have liked Lincoln’s idea that all men could be created equal, that was is point of logic. His well put together words for this speech allows logos to be an important aspect of this Gettysburg Address. This speech was well thought out and very well …show more content…
Lloyd Bitzer’s rhetorical situation is characterized by three components: an exigence, an audience, and constraints. The exigence, for Bitzer, begins with a problem. He defines exigence as “an imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be” (Herrick 216). “An exigencies rhetorical when it is capable of positive modification and when positive modification requires discourse” (Herrick 216). The second component is the audience. From Bitzer’s view point not all audiences are rhetorical audiences. A rhetorical audience must be able to take action in response to the exigence. One must be capable of acting in a manner directly relevant to improving the exigence in order to qualify as a member of a rhetorical audience (Herrick 216). As far as constraints goes, Bitzer affirms that rhetorical situation display constraints. Constraints are like the basis of the situation. Some are created by the situation: what the audience believe, available evidence, deadlines, time limits, environment. Others are created by the writer: what they believe, their style, what evidence they decide to include, and any other choices made by the