April 30, 2025

In Aristotelian terms, the good leader must have ethos, pathos and logos. The ethos is his moral character, the source of his ability to persuade. The pathos is his ability to touch feelings, to move people emotionally. The logos is his ability to give solid reasons for an action, to move people intellectually.

Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001), American philosopher and educator, Time, 15 June 1974, in Seldes, p.8

That’s one hell of a combination—the ability to move others morally, emotionally, and intellectually. And very theoretical. Can you think of any such leader?

In some ways, Aristotle is offering us a scorecard for use in measuring the performance of elected officials, particularly those up for re-election. But what he misses is something practicing politicians have known for eons: that elections are not exercises in rational argument between representatives of different points of view, but a time when ethos (persuadability) and pathos (emotionality) are let loose among the body politic. Or is the absence of rationality just a symptom of our bifurcated era?