Abstract

“Persuasion”, as a means of speech communication, happens anywhere at anytime in our daily life, so mastering the arts of persuasion is of great significance. The ancient rhetorician Aristotle believes that ethos, pathos and logos are indispensible in persuasion. As a contemporary orator, no matter which kind of the speech is, Steve Jobs can always stimulate the audience’s curiosity and let the audience agree with his views and accept his suggestions, in order to successfully reach the address purposes. Therefore, this thesis combines these two great men and goes deep into Jobs’ speeches from the perspective of Aristotle’s three appeals (ethos, pathos and logos).

Two of Jobs’ speeches are chosen in the study. One is delivered at Stanford University’s graduation in 2005, and the other is made in Apple’s event in 2007. Both of the discourses have made a huge impact on the audience. The thesis analyzes these two speeches based on three appeals for the purpose of figuring out the subelements that can fulfill ethos, pathos and logos respectively and the persuasive effects that Aristotle’s three persuasive appeals can cause in practice.

Through the research, it is found that ethos, pathos and logos all have at least three subdivisions. Ethos can be realized by good sense, good moral character and goodwill, pathos, by personal pronoun, narrative and figures of speech, and logos, by example, enthymeme and data. Each subdivision can also be fulfilled by several subelements. These subelements are expertly applied by Steve Jobs, and work together to arouse the audience’s interests and to make them willing to listen to the speech, so they would accept Jobs’ argument.

This study can not only help others who are interested in or are learning this theory better understand ethos, pathos and logos, but also assist those who intend to persuade others, to apply the arts of persuasion more effectively in their expressions in order to convince the audience. 

Key Words: Aristotle, ethos, pathos, logos, three appeals

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter1 Introduction-1

1.1 Background and Significance of the Study-1

1.2 Purposes and Methodology of the Study-2

1.3 Organization of the Thesis-3

Chapter 2 Literature Review-4

2.1 Introduction of Aristotle’s Theories-4

2.2 Framework of Three Appeals-5

2.2.1 Ethos-5

2.2.2 Pathos-6

2.2.3 Logos-7

2.3 Related Studies at Home and Abroad-8

Chapter 3 Analysis of Steve Jobs’ Speeches-11

3.1 Persuasive Strategies in Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish-11

3.1.1 Persuasion with Ethos: Goodwill-11

3.1.2 Persuasion with Pathos: Personal Pronoun-13

3.1.3 Persuasion with Logos: Example-14

3.2 Persuasive Strategies in Macworld 2007 (excerpt)-15

3.2.1 Persuasion with Ethos: Good Sense-15

3.2.2 Persuasion with Pathos: Figures of Speech-17

3.2.3 Persuasion with Logos: Data-19

Chapter 4 Conclusion-20

4.1 Major Findings-20

4.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Studies-20

References-22

Appendix 1-24

Appendix 2-29

文献综述报告-47