In this essay I had to find ways the author used Pathos, Logos, and Ethos in his article.

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Jonathan Davila
Professor Dougherty
ENGL 1C
15 October 2012
Defenseless Survival
Everyday people try to use an argument to persuade people on a certain topic
which interest them or they are trying to show the world the true meaning of something.
In “Animal Rights, Human Wrongs,” the author Tom Regan explains to us how whales
and other creatures are killed in the world using his knowledge, eyewitness accounts and
even graphic descriptions of how some of these animals are tortured and killed by human
beings. In his argument he clearly uses ethos due to his details and facts based on his
experiences. Another supporting detail in his argument are the terms logos and pathos in
which he uses these to explain eyewitness accounts and facts of what is done to the
animals and he uses interviews of other people to give descriptions on how all these
killings occur.
Regan is very knowledgeable in the fact that he knows what the laws state and
which areas most of these killings occur in. At the beginning of his argument he begins
by talking about how certain species of animals are “protected by agreement of the
member nations of the International Whaling Commission” (Regan 555). In this
statement Regan uses ethos by stating which group of individuals is responsible for
protecting these endangered species. He gives us clear details on how the butchers of
these whales operate and he offers a point of view of how the crews that carry out these
killing operate in the seas and what they do with the creatures that are killed. Regan also

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tries to explain how people should try to protect these creatures rather then murdering
them by saying, “the onus of justification must be borne by those who cause the harm to
show that they do not violate the rights of the individuals involved” (Regan 558). In this
statement Regan is trying to explain that the killers must prove they are not causing any
harm to these whales while on their missions by proving that what they are doing is
correct.
Regan gives varies eyewitness accounts throughout his argument that help support
what he is trying to explain. In his interview with a man who claims to be part of the
butchering he tells us how, “there is now a fight between the mammal and the crew…a
fight to the death” (Regan 555). In the man’s account of the whale’s demise he gives
clear facts on how the struggle between man and beast commences while the whale
struggles to survive without any way of escaping death. By doing this the people
murdering these whales are wiping out the species slowly which could lead to their
extinction sooner than many animal protectors realize. The author uses logos in great
detail in his interviews with the locals in which they describe how they kill a defenseless
animal that has done no harm to anyone. The purpose of these killings is known to be a
way of developing, “hand lotion, eye cosmetics, face cream perfume” as stated by Regan.
These mass killings need to be stopped otherwise we may face these consequences in the
end.
While Regan has met many people he was able to get descriptions that were very
graphic on how these people kill these whales step by step. Certain individuals that
Regan met explain in great detail how these killings occur and how bloody these battles
are. In an interview with a man, the man explains how “The whale spouts blood, keels

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slowly over and floats belly upward” (Regan 555). In the man’s description of this killing
it can be concluded that these are savage killings in which humans use their harpoons to
shoot the whale till it bleeds out and if this fails they can just harpoon it again till the
whale is left dead without any hope of survival. Another account by a Thai hunter tells
us about a creature named a gibbon in which these hunters use a gun to kill. The hunter
describes how the gibbon looks after being shot as he explains that, “She still has enough
strength…her baby still clinging to the long hair of her left thigh” (Regan 556). The
images given by this hunter give the impression that they are merciless animal killers
whom would kill a gibbon who is caring a newborn. The use of pathos is widely used
throughout the argument while explaining exactly how these creatures are killed in
graphic detail.
Overall Regan used the terms ethos, logos, and pathos very clearly in his
argument which helped support his examples of the whale killings and his knowledge of
how all these deeds are done. From the grim details on how whales were killed to the
knowledgeable facts that he had on the topic. It is important that we realize how
important these three terms were too the story in order to gain a better understanding of
it. His argument was very effective because he used such details to describe his
experiences and how they can be verified due to his knowledge of these topics. An
important lesson we can learn from this is that “if we do not act today” all these killings
will continue without any end.
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