what is logical appeal

A logical appeal is a type of argumentative appeal that uses logic, reason, data, and facts to prove an argument or persuade an audience. It is one of the three argumentative appeals postulated by Aristotle, the other two being ethical and emotional appeals. A logical appeal is the strategic use of sound reasoning, logic, claims, and evidence to convince an audience of a certain point. Effective logical appeals contain strong, clear claims, reasonable qualifiers for claims, valid warrants, clear reasons for claims, and strong evidence such as facts, statistics, personal experience, expert authority, interviews, observations, and anecdotes. They also acknowledge the opposition. On the other hand, ineffective logical appeals may include over-generalized claims, reasons that are not fully explained or supported, logical fallacies, evidence misused or ignored, and no recognition of opposing views. A rational appeal uses logical arguments and factual evidence to persuade individuals that a thesis is viable and likely to result in the obtainment of goals. When deploying a rational appeal, the burden of proof is on the speaker to develop the right appeals for the particular audience, and to use logically constructed arguments and evidence to persuade the audience to agree with them.