Logos:
There are two types
of logical argument, inductive and deductive.
In an inductive argument, the reader holds up a specific
example, and then claims that what is true for it
is also true for a general category. For instance,
"I have just tasted this lemon. It is sour.
Therefore, all lemons are probably sour." Deductive
reasoning works in the opposite manner; it begins
with a general or universal rule accepted by most
people ("all lemons are sour") and then applies that
claim to a specific example. ("That is a lemon. Therefore,
it too must be sour.") A third type of logic is reductive or eliminatory logic, in which a conclusion is reached by a process of elimination. For example, "The only ways out of the building are the front door, the window, and the fire escape. Since the burglar did not take the front door or the window, he must have used the fire escape."
Logos Links:
The other types of
persuasive appeal are pathos
and ethos.
Click here to return
to rhetoric.
