Part III

Last of the main three, logos. Logos is logic and relies on the quality of arguments. My favorite example is the scene of Socrates and Diotima in Plato’s Symposium. It’s an engagement between the two where Diotima is making an argument to Socrates on the nature of Eros (the personification of love). There is absolutely no emotion in the exchange and it comes off as cold. There’s not really any credibility involved because the whole conversation is in question and answer format, Diotima actually makes minimal assertions. Instead, Diotima guides Socrates through a mental maze to arrive at her final conclusion, relying only on questions and innate logical abilities. I highly recommend reading the symposium; it’s confusing, but if you look closely enough, there is a lot of value. It’s the hardest to describe in a way that’s not self-referential. Logos is really best described by logic. Or another way to think about it, it’s the one in which the one being persuaded actually has to use their brain. Pathos is purely emotional, and ethos is a belief-and-forget sort of persuasion. Logos is a type of persuasion where the listener must actually think and agree with the arguments presented. Obviously, there are different degrees to it based on how well laid out and how well guided the argument is, like Diotima’s is very effective and simple, minimizing total necessary brain cells, while still utilizing logos.

_{Cover photo by Jaylan Shuea}