Something Interesting

In this weeks reading, i found that the website for cause and effect to be the most useful because not only is it commonly used but it is high used in court. I am glad that the professor gave us a website on what the cause and effect is and gave people detailed descriptions on what makes the cause and effect model valid. I find that people use cause and effect situations to argue about. For example, there was a car stopped at a red light and another approaching from behind but was busy texting and could not stop in time, so the car from behind rear ended the car in front making it cause a traffic collision inside the intersection with other cars. Here, clearly the person from the back was at fault because he or she was texting and was not paying attention to the road and as a result, they caused a traffic collision that could have claimed some lives. I found this reasoning to be amusing because i did not know that we use cause and effect daily. But since i read and understood the concept of the reasoning, cause and effect is clear to me.

Cause and Effect

After reading the website about cause and effect, i find that this reasoning is used periodically and is very common in court of law. From what i know, cause and effect reasoning is when something happened and then another thing happened. Basically, the first scene that happened is the cause and the second scene of action of the effect. For example, because i ate the last bowl of frosted flakes, my brother requested my mom to get another box of cereal. If i did not eat the last bowl, he would not have begged my mom to get another box, he would have been full and satisfied with the amount he ate. The website about Causal arguments is useful because it allows us to know what the definition of cause and effect is and how it can be used in real life situations. Overall, i find this amusing because people in sociology majors have this term used a lot.

2)

For the Mission Critical website, i found it very useful. Not only is it easy to understand but it gives people description on every type of reasoning. I liked how the website gives us parts of what the basic of each reasoning is. I also like how the website gives people an analysis of the arguments, from introduction to inductive and deductive reasoning to non-universal syllogism, the areas goes into depth of each reasoning and how it is used in real life situations. i also like the fallacies and non-rational persuasion because this part gives examples of fallacies such as appeal to fear, pity, spite, loyalty, prejudice, and vanity. This website is useful because it can actually be taught as lessons to people who are first timers in learning reasoning and fallacies. I like this website because everything is organized and is described into depth of how the criterias are being used.

3)

In this week's session, i found a lot of things interesting so i might as well talk about everything. In the reasoning topics on the professor's page, i searched up every one of them and found that each one of them has a specific meaning to it. But they can all be used in conversations, arguments, and even persuasion. Reasoning by example can be very useful at time when you are trying to update a friend about what is going on in the world, if he does not understand what you mean, you can use examples to relate to what you guys are talking about. That way, it will be easier for him to understand and engage in the conversation. All these reasoning's can be useful in many ways,  if you are trying to relate something to something else, you can use reason of analogy. Reasons like this can start up a great conversation.

Sign Reasoning

After going through all the list of reasoning, i find that sign reasoning is the hardest to understand for me because i did not understand the definition which is argument by sign asserts that two or more things are so closely related that the presence or absence of the other. I found this confusing because i did not know what this meant until i saw the example: Fingerprints are signs of being discrete, just as a footprint is an indication that someone has walked by recently. Now the easiest way to understand sign reasoning is look for something big and have something small to notice it by. For example, in the website, it gave an example of when you see smoke, it is a sign that there is a fire near. Reasoning is a good way to start a conversation as well as retaliate in an argument because it allows you to use different examples to get you point across.

1)

According to Epstein, reasoning by analogy is a comparison becomes reasoning by analogy when it is part of an argument: On one side of the comparison we draw a conclusion, so on the other side we should conclude the same. For example, our parents are like squirrels, they work long and hard hours so they can provide for us. They are like squirrels because squirrels also gather food every day for their young. Sign reasoning can be easily explained through signs indicating a bigger picture. For example, there was a robbery at a house and crime scene officials are looking through it, they find a fingerprint in a lamp and runs it through the fingerprint system. The officials finds out that the fingerprint belongs to a robber that have been on a streak of robbing house, the robber is the big picture. Causal reasoning is basically an investigation that shows the causes of an effect. This is easily understandable, using the example from the website, the four students all ate coleslaw and other foods, but the teacher concluded that the coleslaw developed the indigestion, that is causal reasoning. By investigation, the teacher was able to point out what led to the indigestion. Criteria reasoning is when someone is using a category to find out what is right. For example, my friends sister likes everything that is purple, so for her birthday present, we got her a purple butterfly necklace, we found this out because the criteria led us to the color purple. People use reasoning by example every day, it is basically telling someone a story about something they were talking about. An example would be two people discussing the effect of texting a driving. one would say my cousin almost got into a car accident because someone texted her while she was on the road. Inductive reasoning is reasoning due to previous actions, like how your mom would kiss you before she leaves work. Its inductive because your mom always kisses you before she leaves. Deductive reasoning is when two statements are true, an example would be 1) all cars are fast 2) my car is fast.

Something Interesting

In the 21st century, i found that many people use appeal to spite. People from government officials to little kids at the age of five are using revenge as an activity. I also find that most schools do this but they do it as in "pranks". One school or another would play a prank on another school by taking their mascots and taking pictures of the mascot doing dumb things. Appeals to spite have been used and have been modified throughout the time, now it has become fun and ridiculous. Government officials uses appeal to spite by embarrassing and humiliating the other opponent so that they can get more votes. I find that appeal of spite can be used in good times and bad times. But revenge is not always the key to solving problems because it can sometimes get out of hand. When that happens, someone can get into trouble or seriously hurt.

Objective #6

On page 195, the book lists numerous exercises for chapter 10. I chose #6: Give an example of an appeal to spite that invokes what someone believes. Is it a good argument? An advertisement or political speech that i can identify nowadays is the Meg Whitman ads on television. One commercial shows her being a plagiarizer because she is stealing Arnold Swartzeneggar's words. Every line she said, the television would show Arnold saying the same thing in his campaign to be governor. Other political person's like Jerry Brown, Meg Whitman, etc. are all making commercials in which it shows their opponent and what wrong they can do to the economy if we pick them. It leaves us in a question about what to do in these kinds of situations because, if we pick one, then we will have to endure the consequences for picking that person. For example, there is a commercial about Jerry Brown raising taxes when he was mayor of Oakland. All these ads that come out are appeals to spite from other people running for campaigns because they will so anything to humiliate their opponent to win.

Appeals to emotion

After reading Chapter 10 about appeals to emotion, i find that the concept of appealing to pity is very persuading because it actually works. In the first example, two people feel sympathy about the poor kids over seas, how they are not getting the nutrients and energy they need in order to survive. This type of appeal gets to everyone because it allows the idea to get into people's head and have them feel guilty that they have everything, but the kids in other countries have nothing to survive and can die at any moment. Some people think that people in other countries are doing this so that organizations can get money from this process and making Americans feel pity. In my opinion, i believe that people in other countries do need our help because they are not as fortunate as us, of having a full time job and television to watch and a beautiful car to drive and impressing the ladies. Other people are lucky enough to have clothes and shoes to wear.