Next, I should discuss pathos. In the abortion debate, the Catholic bishops stir up pathos by referring to the loss of innocent human lives through abortion in the first trimester.
Unfortunately, we have not heard the Catholic bishops speak about the loss of innocent human life in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where noncombatants are killed through American action and referred to as "collateral damage" (i.e., the loss of innocent human life). If the Catholic bishops are concerned about the loss of innocent human life, why aren't they leading antiwar protests against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? I guess that leading antiwar protests would not help the bishops make money from conservative Catholics. So the Catholic bishops are selective in their concern about the loss of innocent human life. They know a money-maker when they see one.
Next, I should discuss logos. O'Brien centers his attention on logos in his many-faceted critique of the Catholic bishops. Fetzer also centers his reasoning on logos in his fine chapter about abortion in the first trimester. So do I in my above-mentioned article about abortion in the first trimester. So there is more than one way to use logos to discuss abortion. But the Catholic bishops appear to believe that their way of thinking deserves to prevail over all other ways of thinking, because they fantasize that they have some special authority due to their fantasy about being successors of Jesus's apostles. But the NEW YORK TIMES' editorial writers have given the Catholic bishops a pass by referring to their ethical teachings regarding abortion as "religious doctrines."
In other words, centuries before John Henry Newman (1801-1890), the Roman Catholic convert who became a Catholic cardinal and who was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI on September 19, 2010, used the expression "the whole man moves" in 1867 in his book APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA, Aristotle in effect understood that "the whole man moves." Aristotle understood that logos, pathos, and ethos should work together to prompt people to move to action, such as the action of voting for a particular course of action. But O'Brien centers his attention on logos, on trying to get people to change their thought-world. (The expression "the whole man moves" is sexist. I have no problem with the idea of using the expression "the whole person moves," except when I mean to indicate exactly what Newman said.)
Related Reading: For an introductory discussion of Newman's rhetorical thought, the interested reader should see Walter Jost's book RHETORICAL THOUGHT IN JOHN HENRY NEWMAN (University of South Carolina Press, 1989). For an excellent discussion of Aristotle's view of ethos, the interested reader should see William M. A. Grimaldi's article "The Auditors' Role in Aristotelian Rhetoric" in the anthology ORAL AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION: HISTORICAL APPROACHES, edited by Richard Leo Enos (Sage Publications, 1990, pages 65-81).
Now, Albert Ellis is famous for pioneering rational-emotive-behavioral therapy. He claims, correctly in my judgment, that when people change their thought-world, their emotional responses to events and even their behavior will change as a result. O'Brien clearly aims to examine the thought-world of the Catholic bishops. Good for him.
But how do we move to change our thought-world? What moves us to change our thought-world? Are we supposed to be moved to change our thought-world by simply having O'Brien set forth certain implications of the antiabortion thought-world as presented by the Catholic bishops?
Usually, something needs to move us to consider changing our thought-world before we reach the juncture of examining alternative thoughts to our already established thought-world, such as the thoughts and implications that O'Brien works out. Aristotle suggests that alternative thoughts alone will probably not move us to change our thought-world. He suggests that pathos and ethos need to be added to the mix of thoughts (logos) to persuade us and move us to action. But in his dispassionate book, O'Brien centers his attention on logos.
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