Abstract

Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was to examine ethos from its classical origins through deconstruction. My analysis involved research from the literature from three distinct periods: classical, modern, and poststructural. This study also included pedagogical applications and comments concerning the future direction of the role of ethos in composition. ;Findings and conclusions. Ethos was found to be Aristotle's primary means of appeal. For centuries, however, ethos was diminished. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, invention, as an objective of rhetoric, was truncated from the curriculum at Harvard. In 1963 ethos was rediscovered and various rhetoricians have reestablished the importance of ethos in effective composition. Ethos will play a major role in the future development of writers as they enter the twenty-first century