1) Discuss the idea of Appeal to Emotion. There are different aspects of Appeal to Emotion, which type of Appeal to Emotion strikes you, and why?
Appeal to Emotion is an argument that uses or requires as premise: You should believe or do something because you feel a certain way. According to the book, the definition of appeal to emotion is an argument with a prescriptive conclusion can be good or can be bad. Being alert to the use of emotion helps clarify the kinds of premises needed in such an argument, so we can more easily analyze it. There are different aspects of the appeal to emotion; appeal to pity, appeal to fear, appeal to spite, a feel-good argument, appeal to vanity, and wishful thinking.
The one that caught my attention the most was appeal to spite. This is the hope of revenge that is invariably rejected as bad by some people on moral grounds. This happens so often that we don't always notice it. When i was reading about this, i realized that i use this very often with people and i don't even realize that i am doing so. For example, If someone asks me to help them with homework, I will put everything aside and help as best i can with what they need help with, but when i ask them for help with homework they are too busy. The next time they ask me for help, i help them, and i always say to myself why am i helping this person when they can never do anything for me in return.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Discussion Question #3-Week 9
Pick one concept from the assigned reading this week, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it.
One thing I thought was very useful and interesting was how to check for validity with diagrams and with reasoning in arguments. The reason for checking is to make sure that arguments that use general claims are valid.
The most interesting form of checking to see if the argument is valid, is reasoning in a chain with all and some. I thought this was very much like the slippery slope concept that we learned in last chapter- but a little bit different. It caught my attention because it was very easy to follow and understand and be able to point out easily. Another form that is closely related to reasoning in a chain with all and some is the direct way of reasoning with no and arguing backwards with no.
These are all ways to check validity of an argument. Checking to see if an argument is valid is important because its another way to look for the possibility that the premises can be true and the conclusion to be false.
One thing I thought was very useful and interesting was how to check for validity with diagrams and with reasoning in arguments. The reason for checking is to make sure that arguments that use general claims are valid.
The most interesting form of checking to see if the argument is valid, is reasoning in a chain with all and some. I thought this was very much like the slippery slope concept that we learned in last chapter- but a little bit different. It caught my attention because it was very easy to follow and understand and be able to point out easily. Another form that is closely related to reasoning in a chain with all and some is the direct way of reasoning with no and arguing backwards with no.
These are all ways to check validity of an argument. Checking to see if an argument is valid is important because its another way to look for the possibility that the premises can be true and the conclusion to be false.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Discussion Question #2-Week 9
Discuss the usefulness of the first or second major course assignment. Use specific examples.
The first group assignment was useful because not only did we need to work together as a group, but we needed to analyze an editorial. When analyzing the editorial we needed to find and evaluate on specific subjects- finding the major claim, determining whether it was stated or unstated/strong or valid weak or bad, show how the premises supported the claim, describe whether this was a good argument and what the difference is between an argument and a description.
There were many different jobs that needed to be done to analyze the editorial for this assignment. Analyzing the editorial was useful because it made me realize that there is so much more to an article, editorial, argument etc. other than just words put into paragraphs, or stories being told. There is much more meaning and analyzing that needs to be done to understand the true meaning of the piece of writing.
When looking for editorials for this assignment, it was a bit difficult for my group to find a good solid piece of writing that was useful for our project. There were so many articles to choose from, however, some articles had little to no useful information in it that we could benefit from for our papers. Knowing all the information we needed to analyze in the editorial of our choice, it was useful for our group to meet together when finding an editorial we all agreed on that would be beneficial for all of us to write our group parts and individual papers on.
The first group assignment was useful because not only did we need to work together as a group, but we needed to analyze an editorial. When analyzing the editorial we needed to find and evaluate on specific subjects- finding the major claim, determining whether it was stated or unstated/strong or valid weak or bad, show how the premises supported the claim, describe whether this was a good argument and what the difference is between an argument and a description.
There were many different jobs that needed to be done to analyze the editorial for this assignment. Analyzing the editorial was useful because it made me realize that there is so much more to an article, editorial, argument etc. other than just words put into paragraphs, or stories being told. There is much more meaning and analyzing that needs to be done to understand the true meaning of the piece of writing.
When looking for editorials for this assignment, it was a bit difficult for my group to find a good solid piece of writing that was useful for our project. There were so many articles to choose from, however, some articles had little to no useful information in it that we could benefit from for our papers. Knowing all the information we needed to analyze in the editorial of our choice, it was useful for our group to meet together when finding an editorial we all agreed on that would be beneficial for all of us to write our group parts and individual papers on.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Discussion Question #1- Week 9
Discuss one concept in Chapter 8 that you found useful. Please explain the concept and give a personal example or personal story.
Chapter 8 had a lot of useful information that i was aware of but didn't realize it happens daily. One concept that I found extremely useful and can easily relate to is General Claims and Their Contradictories.
In this section it is explained that general claims are not always valid, meaning the premises could be true however the reasoning could be weak. In other words, many arguments might sound right, but are wrong due to the fact that the wording used in the argument is wrong or not valid. It is important to be clear as to what is being stated in your argument and use the right terms. In this section it is explained that there is a huge difference between "all" and "some". When using "all" in an argument it means every single thing. Using "some" in an argument it means at least one.
It is important to know the difference and be clear as to what the true meaning of your argument is.
I can relate to this because in my daily life i text a lot. When texting people i can say things to them where i mean something completely different that how they perceived it. In other words, its the words i am saying that are not clear, which makes people perceive it differently. This relates to the "all" and "some" meaning because there are different wants to say all and some rather than using those words- there are equivalent claims to make.
Chapter 8 had a lot of useful information that i was aware of but didn't realize it happens daily. One concept that I found extremely useful and can easily relate to is General Claims and Their Contradictories.
In this section it is explained that general claims are not always valid, meaning the premises could be true however the reasoning could be weak. In other words, many arguments might sound right, but are wrong due to the fact that the wording used in the argument is wrong or not valid. It is important to be clear as to what is being stated in your argument and use the right terms. In this section it is explained that there is a huge difference between "all" and "some". When using "all" in an argument it means every single thing. Using "some" in an argument it means at least one.
It is important to know the difference and be clear as to what the true meaning of your argument is.
I can relate to this because in my daily life i text a lot. When texting people i can say things to them where i mean something completely different that how they perceived it. In other words, its the words i am saying that are not clear, which makes people perceive it differently. This relates to the "all" and "some" meaning because there are different wants to say all and some rather than using those words- there are equivalent claims to make.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Week 7- Discussion Question #3
3). Pick one concept from either text, not already discussed, that you found useful or interesting and discuss it. Use either Chapter 6 or Chapter 7.
One concept i found very helpful to help in arguments is reasoning. There are two concepts that helped me understand this throughly. Reasoning in a chain and the slippery slope and reasoning from hypotheses.
Reasoning in a chain and the slippery slope is important because you take step by step when concluding an argument. Reasoning in a chain is easy to understand, for example: If A is true then we can conclude C. However, using this form isn't always accurate. This can cause the chain to form a slippery slope conclusion. For example: If A then B + C... therefore D. The claim is false, the second one may be false or true, and so on, however, your reason to believe that the conclusion becomes doubtful because each claim becomes more and more doubtful.
Reasoning from hypotheses is a little more clear cut. Starting with a hypotheses to make a good argument. If A then B.
One concept i found very helpful to help in arguments is reasoning. There are two concepts that helped me understand this throughly. Reasoning in a chain and the slippery slope and reasoning from hypotheses.
Reasoning in a chain and the slippery slope is important because you take step by step when concluding an argument. Reasoning in a chain is easy to understand, for example: If A is true then we can conclude C. However, using this form isn't always accurate. This can cause the chain to form a slippery slope conclusion. For example: If A then B + C... therefore D. The claim is false, the second one may be false or true, and so on, however, your reason to believe that the conclusion becomes doubtful because each claim becomes more and more doubtful.
Reasoning from hypotheses is a little more clear cut. Starting with a hypotheses to make a good argument. If A then B.
Week 7- Discussion Question #2
2). Please discuss, in detail, what you learned from reading Chapter 7. Discuss at least 2 things you learned.
In chapter 7, i learned that an argument is very important and needs back up. If you are going to argue something you need to be able to defend it. There are ways to refute an argument- show that at least one of the premises is false, show that the argument is not strong or valid, and show that the conclusion is false. There is also another way that we can refute an argument a little differently. Reducing to the absurd which is to show that at least one of the claims is false therefore assuming the conclusion is false from the claims.
One thing that i found interesting is that refuting an argument doesn't necessarily means that the conclusion is false. Another thing that i found interesting is that there are four different ways to reduce the absurd- refuting the analogy which is only retaining the important information to get an absurd conclusion; phony refutations which is based on judgement, you have the conclusion, what the speaker believes, the contradictory therefore the argument is bad; slippery slopes which is just like the domino affect, there is one claim and because of that one claims there is a chain reaction occurring; and finally, ridicule, which is pretty much dominating the other persons argument, belittling then and ending the argument.
In chapter 7, i learned that an argument is very important and needs back up. If you are going to argue something you need to be able to defend it. There are ways to refute an argument- show that at least one of the premises is false, show that the argument is not strong or valid, and show that the conclusion is false. There is also another way that we can refute an argument a little differently. Reducing to the absurd which is to show that at least one of the claims is false therefore assuming the conclusion is false from the claims.
One thing that i found interesting is that refuting an argument doesn't necessarily means that the conclusion is false. Another thing that i found interesting is that there are four different ways to reduce the absurd- refuting the analogy which is only retaining the important information to get an absurd conclusion; phony refutations which is based on judgement, you have the conclusion, what the speaker believes, the contradictory therefore the argument is bad; slippery slopes which is just like the domino affect, there is one claim and because of that one claims there is a chain reaction occurring; and finally, ridicule, which is pretty much dominating the other persons argument, belittling then and ending the argument.
Week 7- Discussion Question #1
1).Please discuss, in detail, what you learned from reading Chapter 6. Discuss at least 2 things you learned.
In chapter 6, i learned that within claims there are other claims. There are two different compound claims that result in how things could be that i learned from this chapter; claims and conditionals. There are many different ways to look at a claim- alternatives, contradictory of claim, contradictory of an or claim, reasoning, false dilemmas. Then there are conditionals which are claims in which have the same truth-value. There is a confusing line between a claim and a conditional, a conditional claim is different because it can be seen as and "if, and then" claim. Whereas a claim is either or but not both.
Compound claims are very important for arguments because they can reason with claims instead of using possibilities.
One thing i found very interesting from chapter 6 is that there are two negative affects when using compound claims. First, is that people tend to use false dilemmas. Meaning that people use their "or" claim incorrectly; where it is false and exclude possibilities. Excluding possibilities makes its hard to understand the argument throughly. Therefore, listing the possibilities is necessary to avoid a false dilemma. Lastly, there is the slippery slope. The slippery slope is a bad argument where people tend to add claims to the one that happened- kind of like the domino effect. For example, if you skip school (claim 1) people assume that since you skipped school, you will do drugs (claim 2), you will get bad grades (claim 3) and therefore become a failure in life (claim 4).
In chapter 6, i learned that within claims there are other claims. There are two different compound claims that result in how things could be that i learned from this chapter; claims and conditionals. There are many different ways to look at a claim- alternatives, contradictory of claim, contradictory of an or claim, reasoning, false dilemmas. Then there are conditionals which are claims in which have the same truth-value. There is a confusing line between a claim and a conditional, a conditional claim is different because it can be seen as and "if, and then" claim. Whereas a claim is either or but not both.
Compound claims are very important for arguments because they can reason with claims instead of using possibilities.
One thing i found very interesting from chapter 6 is that there are two negative affects when using compound claims. First, is that people tend to use false dilemmas. Meaning that people use their "or" claim incorrectly; where it is false and exclude possibilities. Excluding possibilities makes its hard to understand the argument throughly. Therefore, listing the possibilities is necessary to avoid a false dilemma. Lastly, there is the slippery slope. The slippery slope is a bad argument where people tend to add claims to the one that happened- kind of like the domino effect. For example, if you skip school (claim 1) people assume that since you skipped school, you will do drugs (claim 2), you will get bad grades (claim 3) and therefore become a failure in life (claim 4).
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Discussion #3
3) A concept in Chapter 5 that i found interesting was, bad appeals to authority. An appeal to authority is when someone accepts a claim just because a person they believe to have an authority to do so have stated the claim.This is interesting to me because many people follow this in their daily life. Many people follow what people say because they believe that the claim is right. Alot of people believe in an authoritys claim because they feel that they have the right to state that claim and that they may be automatically correct because they are authority and they are much smarter than say someone our age. However, in my opinion just because an authority states a claim does not mean that it is necessarily true.
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