Appealing Pathos

Emotion is one of the strongest points in decision making. They are what makes up the core of our being, next to our beliefs and thoughts. That is why appealing to emotions (the working definition of pathos) is such a powerful tool in arguments and rhetoric. The way one feels will very strongly influence the way in which they choose to act, and in that right, if the way one feels can be swayed by an outside force, the way one acts or chooses to think could just as easily be swayed. Factual evidence may be in existance for a certain person's reality, but emotion is something that is present in everyone's reality (RJ, if you see this and say that it is not in your reality, then i'm going to act a fool all up in your Jeep.). René Descartes' sayint, Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am) can sum up reality for the individual on the most umbrella-esque level, and emotion is present in thought. Through the transitive property, emotion is existance. Algebra rocks.