Forms of appeal

Logos

Sean Spence uses logos in “Bad or Mad?” whenever he appeals to reason by making logical connections between ideas, giving arguments for his statements, and referencing real life facts or events.

For example, the writer uses logos at the beginning of the article, to justify his statement that, historically, the question of evil has been theological (p. 137, ll. 6-7). He gives Saint Augustine’s answer to the question of evil as an example.

The writer also uses logos to explain why Saint Augustine’s distinction between moral evil and natural evil is appealing to humans. The author argues that to punish criminals, we need to believe that they were aware of the violence and cruelty of their crimes (p. 138, ll. 1-4).

Spence further states that people who demonstrate control and carefully plan their crimes are viewed as morally evil. To illustrate his point, he uses logos by quoting the character “The Bride” in the film Kill Bill: “ ‘It’s mercy, compassion and forgiveness I lack,’ she says, ‘not rationality’ ” (p. 137, ll. 10-11).

Logos is then used as Spence logically connects the scientific evidence with its potential social implications, asking a series of questions regarding how justice courts and psychiatry...