"Useless Creatures"

Question

by Richard Conniff

But usefulness is precisely the argument other people put forward to justify destroying or displacing wildlife, and they generally bring a larger and more persuasive kind of green to the argument. Nothing you can say about 100 acres in the New Jersey Meadowlands will ever add up for a politician who thinks a new shopping mall will mean more jobs for local voters (and contributions to his campaign war chest). Nothing you can say about the value of rhinos for ecotourism in South Africa will ever matter to a wildlife trafficker who can sell their horns for $30,000 a pound in Vietnam.

Reprinted by permission of author Richard Conniff

Question
Use the passage to answer the question.

What type of argument does the author use in this speech?

(1 point)
Responses

logos
logos

syntax
syntax

ad hominem
ad hominem

pathos

Answer 1

The author uses a logos argument in this speech. He presents logical reasoning about the value of wildlife and the detrimental effects of prioritizing short-term economic gains (like jobs from a shopping mall or profits from wildlife trafficking) over ecological and ethical considerations.