Logos, the appeal of reasoning and logic, is one of the three general means of persuasion that Aristotle describes in On Rhetoric. Logic is essentially the study the principles of reasoning, meaning that if the audience agrees with the reasoning behind the argument, it could possibly not need any more support. However, to make such an argument there must be a claim and reasons to support this claim. Those reasons must then be then backed up by evidence, which will be the most important part in passing my argument to the audience.
The argument I want to make is that America is running out of water. Water is the quintessential liquid – it keeps the food that we eat alive, it keeps clothes on our back, and most importantly, it keeps us alive. So, why are we wasting it? This is a question that has been constantly asked for years and has yet to have found an answer. Well there may not be an answer, maybe there is a solution. This is exactly where I will focus the attention of the audience. The appeal of reasoning and logic can be a crucial factor when trying to communicate this argument to the audience. If I could give enough evidence to support claim, I believe that the reasoning and logic of the audience would persuade them into changing the poor water habits and conserve more.
The second and most important of the three-general means of persuasion is Ethos. Having the proper character and the credibility can be a key factor for the communicator when trying to persuade an audience. Through my campaign, I plan to give the audience as much factual evidence as possible. It is important my character stays strong and does not compromise credibility along the way. Another important aspect of ethos is choosing language that is appropriate for the audience and topic. Using the proper language is important because using language that is too scientific can confuse the common audience member or being too aggressive can make the audience member want to back away. Forming a perfect medium will be the most effective way to portray this crucial issue.
In summary, combing both ethos and logos could prove to be beneficial when making a claim. It is important to be both credible and appeal to the reasoning of the audience. Perfecting these persuasive appeals could prove to be life-changing for both America and the world.
This seems to be a suitable and fairly interesting topic to write about this semester. When I hear about water crises, I personally think about the lack of clean water available to many people in Africa. I have never received much information discussing that America is running out of water. Only a few occurrences come to mind. These include periods of droughts in California and the incident that happened in Flint, Michigan. Would the issues you are discussing be happening at a local level or in America as a whole? I think it would be interesting to gain more knowledge on this subject. When presenting your argument, I think it would be most effective to report as many facts and statistics as possible and let your audience come to their own conclusion as they read. Perhaps at the end, when you believe the audience is convinced of the legitimacy of this issue, you can add a section on how an individual can act to solve the problem. I look forward to reading more about this topic.
Your topic is really thought-provoking. It’s not an issue that I routinely concern myself with and that’s probably one of the problems. I don’t know much about the issue, but I think it has broad appeal since water is the most necessary component for life on our planet. I think resource and environmental issues are hard to argue because they have someone been transported to the arena of partisan debate and you will have to tread carefully in how you communicate your solution. When I attended Temple University, I did a comprehensive project on Yemen, which is a country on the bottom of the Arabian Peninsula. During the course of my research, for a number of reasons, natural and man-made, their capital of Sana’a is projected to be the first capital on Earth that will run out of water. I know the country-at-large has a difficult time understanding the challenges facing less resource rich nations, but perhaps that information can assist your campaign.