Logos examples can serve you well for learning how to make your arguments stronger, which will help you to convince your stakeholders much easier.
But before we dive into logos examples, let’s first define what we are talking about (aka What is Logos?):
More...
What is Logos?
Logos is:
Logos is logical or fact-based appeal.
Logos is a form of persuasion by the use of reasoning, facts, statistics, recorded evidence, historical data, studies, surveys, and so on.
Logos is appeal to reason or logic.
Logos uses facts and evidence to convince a reader or listener of the strength of your argument.
Logos is different from pathos, which is an appeal to the emotions, and ethos, which relies on the ethics or credibility of the person making the argument. Ethos, Pathos and Logos are all elements of Aristotle’s Rhetorical Triangle.
If we think objectively, logos should be the strongest type of argument. However, humans are emotional creatures, so we are often easily persuaded by pathos and ethos.Logos is used in citing facts besides statistical, literal and historical analogies.
Logos is something through which inner thoughts are presented in a logical way before the audience for persuasion.
The word logos comes from the Greek word lego, which means “I say.”
Logos often shows up in an argument in the form of facts and statistics. However, any logical statement could be an appeal to logos.
Logos examples can be found in politics for example when a politician is trying to make his case.
Example of Logos being used by a politician to plea for a tax reform:
- Our country has the highest income tax in the world.
- Our own small businesses cannot compete with such a relatively high tax burden.
- Therefore, the government should lower corporate income tax rates.
The first statement might be a fact.
The second and the third statements create a syllogism. They both appeal to logos.
When it comes down to it, logical appeals are made every day. However, simply stating facts is not an appeal to logos. It is only when someone is using an argument which he tries to prove when an appeal to logos is being made. And be careful here: just about anything could be an argument.
Logos examples can be found everywhere
Advertisements are a really great place to find logos examples which sound good but mean nothing. Especially when the product being advertised is being linked to something like nature. Everyone understands that nature is good. But what does this say about the product? Nothing of course! So when a soda company advertises its products like “The Soda Nature would drink” you almost get the feeling that this soda is healthy. But is it really?
Logos Buzz Words
Another type of examples are so-called logos buzz words.
Examples of these words are:
- “pure”
- “natural”
- “freedom”
- “logic”
- “better”
- “cleaner”
- “longer”
- “faster”
All these words have no meaning of themselves, but they sound factual. They sound logical.
These kind of logos examples can often be found in advertisement. For example an add for washing powder of Sparkle Fresh says:
“With fabric conditioners for softer laundry and easier ironing.”
Uhhh … ??? Softer than what? How much softer? Easier than what? How much easier?
Sparkle Fresh uses logos examples to convince your conscious mind of the value of the product.
Other logos examples in advertisement are when complicated words like “sophistication” are used. They try to confuse your conscious mind with complex words which sound logical and cool but mean nothing and above all, says nothing about the value of the product being advertised.
Other logos examples
Logos examples can also be found in literature of course. Like the founding father of Ethos, Pathos and Logos, Aristotle. He said in The Art of Rhetoric: “All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal”, which is a perfect example of logos. Aristotle is using syllogistic arguments here.
Perfect logos examples can be found in philosophy, because they often want to bring across their ideas by supporting arguments.
In the news all kinds of logos examples can be found of course. Especially because news magazines are often broadcasting logos messages regardless of the ethos and pathos. It is only the message which counts.
Other logos examples can be found in court where the plea for guilty or not guilty is often done by all kinds of legal arguments.
Science is of course also an area where lots of logos examples can be found, especially why science is a fact based area.
Keypoints to remember:
Logos is:
- an appeal to logic
- one of the three Aristotelian appeals
- usually evident as facts, numbers, or statistics
- used to convince an audience of an argument
Logos examples are found everywhere in our daily lives.
Conclusion
Logos examples can be found everywhere in daily life. They are often used to bypass your conscious mind by giving your conscious mind some reasoning to process, but in the mean time also some other arguments for your unconscious mind to accept.
Logos examples are everywhere. Be aware to not get fooled!
That's the power of using logos as an instrument in your persuasion arsenal.
Over to you
Please leave a comment below by telling us how you uses logos in your communication arsenal.
Thank you already in advance for sharing your thoughts and insights!
About the Author
Harry Heijligers has more than 25 years of experience as a Project Manager and more than 17 years of experience as an NLP Trainer. He has a Dutch blog about NLP here: HarryHeijligers.com. If you'd like to know more about the Smart Leadership Hut, please check this: Smart Leadership Hut.