A Celebration of Logos & Pathos: Youth Conference

The 2025 CiRCE Youth Conference will take place in Charleston, SC, July 17-19, at the Francis Marion Hotel.

The man often simply described as The Philosopher, Aristotle, identified three modes of persuasion: logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos is the truth, or a statement of truth, or logic, or reasoning that gets us to the truth and moves us. Pathos is the emotional statement that moves us. Ethos is the believability of the authority of the speaker and the role it plays in moving us or persuading us.

In our world, logos and pathos are often at odds with one another. People use one or the other, people abuse one or the other all in an attempt to win us over to their perspective. What is logos and its role in moving us? What is pathos and its role in moving us? Are they enemies or friends with one another? With us?

In a story like Prince Caspian, should Lucy follow Aslan because logic tells her to? Should Lucy follow Aslan because her heart, and her emotions tell her to? Do logic and emotion disagree? Should they? So many questions arise when we just place logos and pathos alongside each other. How many more might arise when we try to celebrate them?

This year is CiRCE’s second annual high schoolers conference, all high school-age students are welcome to come celebrate Logos and Pathos: what are they, what authority do they have over us, what authority should they have over us, how do we choose between them, how do we follow through on the choice that is made?