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Irony
Definition of Logos
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Logos
Explanation and Analysis—Use of Statistics:
In persuasive texts, the inclusion of statistical or scientific information is a quick and reliable method of employing logos. Many readers associate numbers with objectivity and will not question their source, and this is why the Proposer provides various numerical figures throughout "A Modest Proposal," including his estimate of the price people would be willing to pay for an infant's carcass:
I have already computed the charge of nursing a beggar’s child (in which list I reckon all cottagers, labourers, and four-fifths of the farmers) to be about 2s. per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give 10s. for the carcass of a good fat child, which as I have said will make four dishes of excellent nutritive meat.
This use of numbers and statistics to generate logos is deceptive: the Proposer provides no references or sources to explain his calculation, relying instead on the mere presence of numbers to signal a sense of internal logic in his thinking—a logic that is, of course, not really present in his argument. Undoubtedly, this flimsy use of statistical information throughout the text is an element of Swift's satire. His contemporaneous essayists would often commit similar faux pas in their work, invoking scientific data or statistics without including sources or explanations. Swift quite clearly looks down on this rhetorical slight-of-hand and thus satirizes it by using a ridiculous and ultimately false sense of logos.
Related Themes:
