A Rhetorical Analysis Of Lewis Thomas On Cloning A Human Being

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A Rhetorical Analysis On Cloning A Human Being
What is the equivalent to Hell on Earth? Lewis Thomas, a 1970’s biologist and physician, addresses this question in his essay On Cloning A Human Being. For Thomas, the answer is simply the result of trying to create a beneficial system of human cloning. Throughout his essay, Thomas explains in order to create a successful version of immortality, one would not only have to create a genetically identical specimen but also create an identical environment for that individual in order for them to advance and progress their predecessor’s works. By the means of rhetorical strategy, Thomas is able to efficiently affect the reader and successfully argue an alternative approach to human cloning.
Lewis Thomas’s use of a rhetorical method is evident early in his work. Lewis’s appeal of logos, the use of reason to make an argument, is vital in affecting the reader’s interpretation of Thomas’s reasoning. Logos is used on various accounts throughout the essay, including the introductory paragraph where Thomas explains DNA cloning. “A single plant root-tip cell can be teased and seduced into conceiving a perfect copy of the whole plant; a frog’s intestinal epithelial cell possess the complete instructions needed for a new, same frog.” (Thomas, …show more content…

Lewis Thomas is a certified physician and biologist, he uses his profession of physician to justify his argument in why cloning an entire environment would be necessary. “It is the whole family that really influences the way a person turns out, not just the parents, according to current psychiatric thinking. Clone the family.” (Thomas, pg.680). Ethos convinces the reader to identify with the author’s reasoning because he is certified in what he is explaining. Therefore, the author knows more than the reader so they trust what he writes to be

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