Why Should Aristotle’s Definition of Ethos Be Revised Today?
Introduction
Today, the notion of ethos, logos, and pathos are widely used when referring to rhetoric and the different means of persuasion. They are famously known as the rhetorical triangle. It was, indeed, formulated by Aristotle thousands of years ago in his famous work Rhetoric. We will tackle in this essay the notion of ethos, which Aristotle defines as the mean of gaining credibility and confidence from the audience through three central values in a speech: good sense, good moral character, and goodwill. Good sense is translated via the mental approaches of the individual using a solid knowledge foundation on the subject or clear/logical formulations in the arguments. In contrast, a good moral character refers to one’s equality, justice, or fairness virtues. As for goodwill, it expresses the feelings of compassion and sympathy the rhetorician has for the audience to build trust. We will seek to revise the goodwill component of ethos to better formulate it in the contemporary age.
How does Macron’s TikTok video fit within the rhetorical triangle?
We have mentioned earlier the three different components Aristotle believes are crucial to ethos. We will now use an example to demonstrate the statement. While watching a TikTok video of Emmanuel Macron convincing French people about the importance of the Covid vaccine to protect ourselves and others, we observe that he respects good sense, good moral character, and goodwill in the way he addresses himself to the viewers. The arguments he employs are well-founded and structured. He also links the Covid vaccine to collective moral responsibility, strengthening Macron’s ethical side in earning others’ trust. Moreover, the means he communicates to the audience using a calm intonation, gentle facial expression, and soft gestures convey tenderness and empathy. Nevertheless, the unconventional norm of communication through social media for the leader of a nation announces a new revision of how politicians use ethos through content engagement to gain credibility from the public.
How did the Social Media Revolution alter the way politicians use ethos?
In recent decades, society has quickly evolved through intense technological and digital advancement. This also changed the way orators use ethos from a rhetorical perspective compared to Ancient Greece. Indeed, the immediate reaction we witness to Macron’s speech on TikTok is the format in which he addresses the audience. The way he holds his phone, his informal attire by wearing a t-shirt, and the odd location where he films himself to address the French nation can somewhat be considered unprofessional. This contrasts significantly with the traditional representation of a president, as we will later discuss in the essay.
Nonetheless, we can interpret these means of speech as ameliorating the goodwill method, fitting the modern era. For example, by holding the phone near his face, the viewer tends to feel closer to the persuader as physical proximity is built, even though it remains virtual. As viewers, we feel more included as he seems to be addressing us directly by staring at us through the camera instead of lecturing to a broader audience. The speech he is giving is not so much of a monologue anymore, but rather a discussion he is trying to have with the viewers. In addition, by wearing a casual t-shirt, the president does not portray himself as a professional elite of society but rather as an ordinary French citizen of the people who is approachable. Interestingly, in many of his TikTok videos, he tends to hold the phone higher than his head and look up at the camera. The balance of power is ambiguous here because, by looking up, Macron gives a superior stance to the audience, making them feel important.
On top of this, Macron, most importantly, delivers as a good listener by addressing the issues French people are concerned about. Thanks to social media, it is now easier to receive questions and regards from individuals and answer them in a few clicks. It establishes that Macron is open to discussion with the public and remains open-minded to represent the values of a democracy. Social media altered how we envision ethos, as people developed higher expectations for leaders to govern and feel connected with the public. Politicians today have all the tools to engage with the audience efficiently; thus, they need to acquire credibility through proximity and engagement. All these characteristics Macron applies, from directly addressing through his phone to answering Q&As to being more present on social media, are effective in initiating better engagement and relationships with the people to earn their faith.
Where does Aristotle’s definition of ethos fall short?
The definition of ethos here falls short because the notion of goodwill, as Aristotle explains, focuses on the emotions expressed by the rhetorician, which are not necessarily as meaningful for the audience today. It should be categorized closer to the notion of pathos, as it is an emotional appeal. For instance, in many orations from Ancient Greece to the 2000s, the sympathy and compassion of the orator were mainly conveyed through monologues in either forensic or epideictic forms. However, the action of engaging between the interlocutor and the public was not as recurrent as nowadays because these were constrained due to diverse factors, from money to time to space. Whereas good engagement has become an innate and fundamental component of modern times, thanks to social media. Engaging with the audience through words and actions proves the commitment in which the orator seeks to understand the need of others to acquire confidence. Good engagement can indeed exist without goodwill, but people today tend to seek more engagement from politicians than their impression of empathy and amicability. A great depiction of it would be Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential race, in which his engagement with the public through Twitter was far more effective in gaining credibility than only manifesting his goodwill to win the elections. We can see by the numbers below how engaging his contents were, with over 350,000 retweets and 577,00 likes. These numbers would be almost impossible to reach in a physical environment. Therefore, Aristotle’s early definition of ethos should be altered to a new set of components to fit the contemporary era: good sense, good moral character, and good engagement.
Comparing Emmanuel Macron's and Charles de Gaulle’s Speeches
In contrast, it would be interesting to compare Macron’s TikTok video to formal speeches of past French presidents, such as Charles de Gaulle. In this video from 1960 about the war in Algeria, we notice De Gaulle’s traditional application of ethos. From his formal attire, strong intonation, and serious facial expression, he depicts the conventional representation of a president, relatively similar to orators from Antiquity. The leader of a nation should be professional, elitist, and powerful, which is very different from Macron’s characterization in his videos. In De Gaulle’s case, the president’s confidence is built around the strong authority figure he portrays, superior and lacking dialogue to a certain extent. Whereas for Macron, he seeks to do the opposite by putting himself at the same level as the ordinary French citizen and getting closer to them. As social media emerged in the early 2010s, traditional figures could no longer only use emotional goodwill to build confidence and credibility from the people because social media breaks down the physical barriers and allow closer proximity/accessibility between the persuader and the public. This makes goodwill more challenging as it is not about the words employed but the efforts translated through engagement.
What would Cicero think about all this?
Furthermore, it is also vital to mention from the video that past French presidents like Charles de Gaulle were less natural in how they addressed the nation than Macron. Cicero, in De Inventione, would vigorously support Macron’s application of rhetoric as he considers informality and authenticity the best persuasion technique in opposition to formality. This adds up to the usage of social media as a more efficient means of building legitimacy because of the informal method politicians communicate on these platforms, which gives a sense of sincerity as opposed to wearing a mask when too authoritative. We could agree that today, Macron’s means of communication would be far more efficient in acquiring confidence than De Gaulle, especially regarding the new generation Z. Therefore, we can conclude that as the age of social media emerged, the way politicians address the audience changed, and the audience’s expectations of politicians to gain trust altered too.