Logical Appeals: The Use of Evidence

and Logical Reasoning

 Arguments, explain why a claim is correct

and believable.
- They are usually generalizations that are
made on the basis of supporting evidence.
There are different types of arguments
according to reasoning based on evidence.
The following are the different types of
appeals:
1. Argument from transitivity
2. Argument from incompatibility
3. Argument from reciprocity
4. Argument from comparison
5. Argument from generalization
6. Argument from examples
7. Argument from cause
8. Argument from sign
1. Argument from Transitivity
- This involves three terms associated through
the process of classification. In this type of
argument, two classification statements serve
as premises which then serve as the basis for
the argument, presented in the form of a
conclusion.
Example: As an antioxidant, coffee is an
“anticancer substance”.
The three terms are “antioxidant”, “anticancer
substance”, and coffee. They are linked together
through the following statements that serve as
premises:
1. Antioxidants are anticancer substances.
2. Coffee is an antioxidant.
3. And the conclusion: Therefore, coffee is an
anticancer substance.
2. Argument from incompatibility
- This type of argument presents two
contradictory choices, such that the
choice of one means the exclusion of the
other.
Example: President X cannot be pro-
education as he claims to be. He reduced
the education budget by half.
3. Argument from Reciprocity
- This argument says that individuals
and situations that can be put
together under the same category
should be treated in the same way.
Example:
A person who is born in the Philippines and
who has Filipino parents is classified as a
citizen of the Philippines. As a citizen, such a
person enjoys certain privileges reserved only
for a country’s citizens, such as the right to own
any property in the Philippines. Now suppose a
foreigner goes through certain legal processes
and becomes classified as a Filipino citizen. The
reciprocity argument says this foreigner will now
have the same privileges given to any other
Filipino citizen.
4. Argument from Comparison
- This argues that two situations will have the
same outcome because of the similarities
between these situations.

A B A B
C D C ?
Therefore, entity Y will have D as well.
Example:
- The RH Law will lead to the
legalization of abortion in the Philippines.
This was the case in Vietnam which
enacted a similar law many years ago.
5. Argument from Generalization
- In argument from generalization, we use one
member of a population to make conclusions
about the entire population. We encounter
this argument all the time.
- For example, you might have said that “All
people of [a place] are [good, bad, honest,
dishonest, etc.]” because of an experience that
you had with a person from that place.
6. Argument from Examples
- Argument from examples is similar to
argument from generalization but instead
of using only one member as basis, in
argument from examples you use a group
of examples -a sample- from that
population to serve as your basis.
Here’s an example:
Cartoons expose children to excessive violence.
Shows like Tom and Jerry, Boo-hoo Bunny, and
the Mighty Girls show an average of seventeen
violent acts (e.g. punching, kicking, hitting with
an instrument) per episode.

To test arguments from examples, we must ask

this question: Is there a sufficient number of
examples to justify the conclusion?
7. Argument from Cause
An argument from cause posits that A is
caused by B, which means that the presence
of A (cause) will mean the presence of B
(effect). There are two types of causes:
Sufficient cause/strong cause- the occurrence
of the cause guarantees the existence of the
effect. For instance, if virus X is a strong cause
for disease X, then having the virus guarantees
developing the diseases.
 Weak cause or necessary cause
- The occurrence of the cause is necessary for
the effect to occur. If virus X is a weak cause for
disease X, then virus X is like an important
component of having disease X. However, the
virus alone does not lead to having disease X.
Perhaps other factors, for example, a weak
immune system and certain environmental
conditions, are also needed for disease X to
appear.
8. Argument from sign
- This argument uses a sign or indicator X
to argue for the existence of condition Y.
For example: We may say that we have
fever because our body temperature reads
40 degrees Celsius.