appeals to emotion
Bypassing logical reasoning
Appeals to emotion is a rhetorical strategy that tries to persuade by stirring feelings rather than presenting evidence or logical argument.
A charity ad showing a suffering child appeals to emotion; so does a politician invoking fear of crime.
The phrase often carries a dismissive tone, suggesting manipulation: That's just an appeal to emotion, not a real argument.
- angerIntense hostile emotion
- pathosPity-evoking quality
- sob storyPitiful excuse for sympathy
- manipulationUnderhanded control of others
- storytellingRecounting events aloud
tug at heartstrings · persuasion · catharsis · empathy · sadness · fear · scare tactics · think of the children · hope · identification · propaganda · heart strings · anecdote · guilt · nostalgia · imagery · vulnerability · bleeding heart
- debate tacticsexaggeration, logical fallacy, straw man, reductio ad absurdum, deflection
- emotional rhetoricpathos, loaded language, loaded words, inflammatory rhetoric, fearmongering
appeals to emotionreasoned argument
Position backed by logic
logical argument · logos · scientific reasoning · cost-benefit analysis · appeals to authority
appeals to emotionempirical evidence
Proof from measurable observation
logical deduction · scientific method · evidence-based reasoning · critical thinking · formal logic
appeal, appeals, appealed, appealing, appealingly, appellant, appellate, appellation, emotion