Logos Examples Examples of Logos in Literature Put another way: logos is not about using facts correctly or accurately, it's about using facts in any way to influence an audience. Yet another factor that can cause a speech or text to have the appearance of providing proof is the use of overlong words and technical language-but just because someone sounds smart doesn't mean their argument stands to reason.Įven if the facts have been manipulated, any argument that relies on or even just claims to rely on "facts" to appeal to a listener's reason is still an example of logos. Or a speaker might present facts in a way that is wholly or partially misrepresentative, using those facts (and, by extension, logos) to make a claim that feels credible while actually arguing something that is untrue. As Aristotle specifies in his definition of the term, logos can be "proof, or apparent proof." A speaker may present facts, figures, and research data simply to show that he or she has "done their homework," in an effort to attain the degree of credibility that is often automatically attributed to scientific studies and evidence-driven arguments. Not all speakers who use logos can be blindly trusted. In this case, the logic of the argument is anecdotal (meaning it's derived from a handful of personal experiences) rather than purely theoretical, but it goes to show that logos doesn't have to be dry and clinical just because it's concerned with proving something logically. Truth points to her own strength, as well as to the fact that she can perform physically tiring tasks just as well as a man, as proof of equality between the sexes: she's still appealing to the audience's reason, but instead of presenting abstract truths about reality or numerical evidence, she's presenting the facts of her own experience as evidence. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Take this example from Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech in support of women's rights: "The facts" of an argument can also be drawn from the speaker's own life or from the world at large, and presenting these examples to support one's view is also a form of logos.
Logos is any statement, sentence, or argument that attempts to persuade using facts, and these facts need not be the result of long research. While it's easy to spot a speaker using logos when he or she presents statistics or research results, numerical data is only one form that logos can take.
#LOGOS PLATINUM EDITION HOW TO#
Here's how to pronounce logos: loh-gos Logos and Different Types of Proof Data, facts, statistics, test results, and surveys can all strengthen the logos of a presentation.In contrast to logos's appeal to reason, ethos is an appeal to the audience based on the speaker's authority, while pathos is an appeal to the audience 's emotions.The three "modes of persuasion"- pathos, logos, and ethos-were originally defined by Aristotle.Aristotle defined logos as the "proof, or apparent proof, provided by the words of the speech itself." In other words, logos rests in the actual written content of an argument.For example, when a speaker cites scientific data, methodically walks through the line of reasoning behind their argument, or precisely recounts historical events relevant to their argument, he or she is using logos. Logos is an argument that appeals to an audience's sense of logic or reason. Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). What is logos? Here’s a quick and simple definition: