Introduction
Every person in this world is born with an inherited ability to persuade (Pullman 13). Persuasion allows one person to influence another so that the person being influenced will act as the one who is persuading wishes. Thus, this ability is something that many might desire. However, it is not so easy to learn how to persuade people. Persuasion requires precision of actions, an understanding of human emotions and the ability to read them effectively, and charisma that is either developed or present without any training. In any case, a persuasion is a tool used mainly by politicians and people who possess a particular authority. It is crucial for these people to know how to persuade. Persuasion as a set of techniques and methods, along with its peculiarities, will be the focus of this paper.
History of Persuasion
The first people to recognize persuasion and use it to their benefit were the Greeks, who paid a great deal of attention to the way a person conveyed ideas through speech. The success of politicians and other types of activists was determined based on their skill in rhetoric and elocution. Politicians’ ability to persuade was tested, for example, in the Assembly. Just as in modern times, both the prosecution and the defense mainly depended on the ability of the one prosecuting or defending to persuade the jury. A speaker used the means of rhetoric to find ways to persuade people at any given moment. It was important to take advantage of every situation. Aristotle listed four reasons to invest one’s personal time in the art of persuasion: the ability to achieve justice, the ability to teach properly, consideration of each side of a problem, and the fact that persuasion is the best tool with which to build a defense. Furthermore, Aristotle derived three basic elements of persuasion (ethos, logos, and pathos) that, in combination, ensure successful persuasion.
It is important to understand how the teaching of persuasion grew and what the incentives were for pushing its boundaries. As mentioned by Kennedy, Greeks relied mostly on oral expression (3). This was because written sources were challenging to produce and achieve, and written communication was considered unnatural and excessive. Thus, everybody who wanted to achieve something had to have some skill to ensure that the people around them would either help them get what they wanted or would simply give it to them. It was crucial to be able to persuade people. Moreover, it was necessary to understand how this rhetorical instrument worked and when and how to apply it for maximum efficiency. Thus, the science of persuasion gained prominence.
Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
The goal of persuasion is to provide argumentation sufficient to reach a certain goal within set limits and available human resources. Argumentation, in turn, is achievable only if the one persuading (be it a writer or speaker) “manages to back up his or her claims in a way to impact on readers to change their opinion and make them act in writer’s (reader’s) favor” (Mshvenieradze 1939). Therefore, it is vital to support claims by appealing to the audience’s emotions or capacity for logic as well as convincing the audience that the one speaking is trustworthy. This is where ethos (credibility), logos (logic or rational thinking), and pathos (emotions) are applied. The effectiveness that these instruments allow the communicator to reach is highlighted in research by Brennan and Merkl-Davies, where the authors used these three elements of persuasion to communicate with large enterprises (602–633). The authors pursued a goal of preventing these companies from including hazardous chemicals in their supply chain.
Ethos, logos, and pathos are, therefore, crucial elements of any act of persuasion. Throughout the history of the world, many politicians, presidents, and other distinguished personalities have used these elements in their public speeches. Primarily, they focused on providing statements and clarifying their political courses. However, in order to do so, they would have had to persuade citizens that their policy was the one that the country needed at that time. It was vital for them to appeal to both the logical capacity of their audience and their emotion to reach their goal. Without appealing to ethos, logos, and pathos, they would never have been able to create influence and guidelines for the citizens to follow.
Moreover, ethos, logos, and pathos are widely used by authors who write both scientific literature and fiction. One of the most notable examples of implementing these elements in a publication is the work by Charles Robert Darwin On the Origin of Species. Although Darwin mostly appealed to logos, there were certain attempts to create a feeling of authority so that a research consumer would assume that Darwin was indeed a trustworthy source of information. This effort was made because Darwin knew how extraordinary his theory was for the time. Therefore, he realized that his explanation and reasoning would need to be flawless for the audience to adopt it. At the same time, he needed to dismiss the previously predominant theory of creation or at least show that it was not rational enough to be the correct one.
Alternative Perspective on the Art of Persuasion
Although most people view persuasion as something inherently human-made and invented, some researchers believe that persuasion may be something that the human species possesses on a subconscious level. Parrish argues that “the art of persuasion is a series of behaviors that are the products of both biology and culture” (3). The word “biology” is what must command attention here. Indeed, a lot of teaching and learning is involved in successful persuasion. Therefore, the question arises: How can something manufactured be inherently biological? Examples that answer this question may easily be found in the animal world. One example would be a bee telling its congeners that there is a field rich with pollen somewhere not far from their hive. The bee is trying to persuade other hive members that it may be better to explore other territories to achieve better results. This point is supported by Witzany, who claims that “even non-human social animals might communicate to reach complex behavioral patterns” (1055).
Thus, it becomes clear that persuasion is not limited to human cognitive abilities. In fact, it is an instrument that many species possess. Thus, the only option that a human has is to understand his or her ability to persuade and then improve on it. This is why each innovation in the science of persuasion is a discovery and must be viewed as an improvement of something that already exists rather than something altogether innovative. It is then easily understandable why persuasion, when perfected, allows achieving even the most ambitious goals. Since each person has the ability to persuade (some more and some less), everyone must also have the ability to be persuaded. However, recognition of this aspect of human behavior has also given rise to fraudulent and malevolent activity. A prime example of that is aggressive propaganda.
Propaganda and Persuasion
As stated by Jowett and O’Donnell, propaganda has been present throughout the history of human society and may even be traced back to ancient Greece (57). However, the use of propaganda reached its peak in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The periods of both World Wars and the Cold War that followed them may be characterized by new ideologies and many leaders trying to persuade people that these ideologies comprised the guidelines necessary to lead society into a new era of peace and prosperity. However, ideology alone would not be enough to ensure that people would readily accept it. To be heard and understood, each leader and his supporters required propaganda that was aimed at persuading people to follow them. This may be researched using the examples of communist propaganda in the Soviet Union or fascist agitation in Germany under Hitler’s regime. Even before the revolution in the Russian Empire that eventually led to the establishment of an entirely new government, Mussolini put a great deal of effort into creating a sufficiently persuasive line of propaganda.
Propaganda, thus, is an inherent element of persuasion. Still, it is often used to achieve questionable goals. This means that persuasion must not only be used but also controlled to prevent disruptions of the public order. Additionally, it is important to regard each attempt at persuasion with reason and logic. By achieving significant levels of critical thinking regarding propagandistic activities, people will be able to prevent a great deal of possible disorder.
Conclusion
Persuasion is a sophisticated aspect of human behavior. Although it allows achieving great results, it must also be perfected to ensure its effectiveness. Moreover, the nature of persuasion as an instrument ensures that some people will always try to use it for personal benefit. Persuasion is something that people possess on a basic level, which leads to an assumption that other people will fall under the influence of the one who has the ability to persuade. Nevertheless, across the centuries, persuasion had been used to guide people and overcome great challenges by combining resources and efforts. One great example of how persuasion can help to attain the greater goal of bringing people together is how President Roosevelt spoke in declaring war against Japan. In one speech, Roosevelt was able to appeal to logic (providing facts and data), emotions (stressing that fellow Americans had suffered great losses), and authority (claiming that it was his duty to convey this message). Although a declaration of war may not be viewed as something inherently virtuous, the achievement of unity is undeniable.
Thus, persuasion must be understood, used, and controlled as a potent instrument that may lead to both greater good and calamitous consequences. People must become more self-aware to make sure that persuasion is understood and recognized rather than simply accepted. Each persuasive act must be viewed in the context of the framework of reason, and each member of the audience must pay attention to logos and ethos, and only then to pathos. Achieving such levels of understanding would ensure that persuasion is adequately controlled and implemented only to reach peaceful goals. This shows the importance of persuasion.
Works Cited
Brennan, Niamh, and Doris Merkl-Davies. “Rhetoric and Argument in Social and Environmental Reporting: The Dirty Laundry Case.“ Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, vol. 27, no. 4, 2014, pp. 602-633.
Jowett, Garth, and Victoria O’Donnell. Propaganda & Persuasion. SAGE, 2015.
Kennedy, George. History of Rhetoric, Volume I: The Art of Persuasion in Greece. Princeton Legacy Library, 2015.
Mshvenieradze, Tamar. “Logos Ethos and Pathos in Political Discourse.” Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 3, no. 11, 2013, pp. 1939-1945.
Parrish, Alex Cortney. Adaptive Rhetoric: Evolution, Culture, and the Art of Persuasion. Dissertation, Washington State University, 2012. Interdisciplinary Routledge, 2014.
Pullman, George. Persuasion: History, Theory, Practice. Hackett, 2013.
Witzany, Guenther. “Why Biocommunication of Animals?” Researchgate. Web.