Logos

What is logos?

Logos is a form of appeal which appeals to the receivers’ reason. Thus, the sender appeals to logos with the intention of making the receivers see that the sender’s message is rationally convincing.

Of the three forms of appeal, logos is the one that is more closely connected to the argumentation in a text. Appealing to logos is often about making the receivers see logical connections between the sender’s different points and arguments, thereby making them realize - through reason - that the sender is right.

Elements in a text that might be a logos appeal

Before you start searching for logos appeals in a text, you should note that it is usually the intention that determines if an element is in fact an appeal to logos. The text’s attempt to appeal to reason must be a deliberate attempt to persuade the receivers of something. In other words, there must always be an appeal from the sender.

It is for example only a logos appeal if the text actively uses facts or statistics in an attempt to persuade the receivers of the message of the text. It is not a logos appeal if statistics are merely mentioned as a sort of background information, rather than being part of an actual attempt to persuade the receivers of a particular message.

Below, we go through some of the typical strategies which a sender can use to appeal to logos. We also present authentic examples from various texts. Remember to pay attention to the intention. It is not necessarily in every situation that the following strategies are employed to create logos.

NB: Normally, you should only use the term “logos” when working with argumentative non-fiction texts (speeches, debate articles, poli...