Notes from Underground

The Underground Man explains that consciousness and human nature are not strictly determined by society, as some argue. Instead, consciousness builds upon itself regardless of how close it is to society. He uses himself as an example, saying that he "exercises himself in thinking" despite living for so long away from society, and he thinks logically despite being alone for two decades. He wants to convince the readers that consciousness is inherent in humans, not formed because of society, and logos is the most effective way to do this. He can't use ethos, since he doesn't have much authority, and he can't use pathos because he's not really dealing with emotions. Therefore, logos was the most logical method for The Underground Man to persuade the reader. The Underground Man thus appeals to the reader's sense of logic by laying out his argument step by step and using rhetorical questions to get the reader to think deeper about the topic.