Aux origines de la notion rhétorique d'èthos

Abstract

Used today by researchers in Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis, ethos is a notion whose content and definition are far from being clearly fixed. In spite of their differences, the reflections devoted to ethos by the specialists invariably present the same common trait : as witnessed by the borrowing of the greek term ήθος (transliterated ethos) used in the Rhetoric, and as indicated by the numerous explicit citations to that treatise, these modern works proclaim the heritage of Aristotle. The result of work devoted to the concept of ethos in Aristotle's Rhetoric, this article aims to reinstate this notion into the linguistic, philosophic, political, and cultural context of its elaboration. In thus revealing the proper values attached to the use of this term in greek literature and language in general, and in the work of Aristotle in particular, this study looks to show that the genesis of rhetorical ethos is inseparable from a specific context that the Moderns too often tend to ignore. This article indicates as well that ambiguities in certain passages of the Rhetoric do not allow an unequivocal interpretation of the manner in which ethos, as a means of persuasion, manifests concretely in a discourse.