Chapter 15

In chapter 15, we learn about cause and effect. Cause and effect is A then B or A caused B. One thing in chapter 15 is the cause and effect in populations. I found that really interesting. Cause in populations is “usually explained as meaning that given the cause, there’s a higher probability that the effect will follow than if there were not the cause” (EPSTEIN). So basically, one can tell that the claim is a cause and effect if there is a probability. For example, people who drink alcohol and drive have a higher probability in getting a DUI ticket than the people who does not drink. If there is a probability, then an effect will have to follow because that is how cause and effect goes. It comes together like peanut butter and jelly, or the prince and princess. Also, in cause and effect in populations, there are three sections below it. It is controlled experiment: cause to effect, uncontrolled experiment: cause to effect, and uncontrolled experiment: effect to cause. 

Mission: Critical Site Review

“Mission: Critical is to create a "virtual lab," capable of familiarizing users with the basic concepts of critical thinking in a self-paced, interactive environment”(SJSU.EDU). This site that the professor gave us is really useful. There are a lot of information and link on this page. I thought that the part in the mission critical website where there are critical mission visual diagrams such as Conditionals and Syllogisms for us to see. Like I said before in other posts, I learn better by visual. Circles that are intersected are claims. There are veb diagrams (two movable interacting circles) and venn diagrams (three fixed intersecting circles). There are four diagrams that are really useful. The way the site sets it up makes it easier for people to understand. Also I thought that vagueness and ambiguity was easy. “A word or phrase is said to be ambiguous if it has at least two specific meanings that make sense in context. A word or phrase is said to be vague if it is meaning is not clear in context”. The website had good information and made it easy for me to understand. The definitions and examples were not confusing which made me comprehend this even better. Overall, this website is really useful because it has little trivia after the readings. By playing these games, it makes us learn more. 

Cause Effect Website

I thought that the cause effect website was useful because you can argue causation.  Two rules to remember when dealing with causation are:  1. the cause must precede the event in time. 2. Even a strong correlation is insufficient to prove causation. Other possible explanations for such a strong correlation include coincidence, reversed causation, and missing something that is the cause of both the original "cause" and its purported "effect." (sjsu.edu).This means that you can have an inductive reasoning, which is a cause and effect type of reasoning. In the example on the website, it gives examples of a bicyclist who moves into the traffic lane. I think that this is a good cause effect example because the truck caused the bicyclist to swerve. People can argue these in many ways and in different perspective. I thought that the exercise was useful! I understood what commonality and differences were in the exercise. Commonality is what is the same thing the group has in common and difference is something different about the group showing the effect. This exercise was really short and I wished there was more exercises like this that I can do to understand it more. Overall, I think that the exercise helped me understand cause effect better. 

Interesting 411

“Analogies in the law are presented as detailed, carefully analyzed arguments, with the important similarities pointed out and general principles stated” (Epstein 257). Since analogy means a comparison, analogies in the law mean a comparison in the law. Laws are often vague. Judges have to respect how earlier judges have ruled. Judges have to rule carefully if we are going to be governed by the laws. It can be legal now and later illegal or it can be the opposite. For example, Roe V. Wade said that having an abortion is illegal, but now in today’s world, it is legal to get an abortion. “In law, analogy is used to resolve issues on which there is no previous authority. A distinction has to be made between analogous reasoning from written law and analogy to precedent case law” (Wikipedia). This has to all do with written laws. Example, if the law is written one way, and the judge wants to determine it the other way, the judge has to compare the reasons why he or she wants to change the law. He or she cannot just change it because they do not like it. They have to look through the cases thoroughly.  

Hardest Reasoning

I thought that most reasoning’s were easy. I had a hard time finding reasoning by criteria and reasoning by example because the link that the professor put up didn’t work for some reason. Maybe it is just my internet connection, which will not let me go to the site. I thought that reasoning by analogy was by far the easiest signs there is. I understood it quick, and I did not have to re-read it five times. I really did not think that these reasoning’s are hard. However, just to get something on this post, I think I can use a little more help on “signs of reasoning”. I get it means Argument by sign asserts that two or more things are so closely related that the presence or absence of one indicates the presence or absence of the other. Any time an argument is generated using one variable as proof of another, argument by sign is being used” Ex. “Where there is fire, there is smoke” indicates a strong sign relationship” (speaking.pitt.edu).

Reasoning by Analogy

There are seven different types of reasoning posted on the instructor’s blog. The forms of reasoning are:

1). Reasoning by Analogy
2). Sign Reasoning
3). Causal Reasoning
4). Reasoning by Criteria
5). Reasoning by Example
6). Inductive
7). Deductive

Reasoning by analogy is “is the cognitive process of looking for reasons, beliefs, conclusions, actions or feelings”( Kirwin 748). Epstein defines reasoning by analogy “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.

An example of reasoning by analogy is prop. 19, which is a proposal that wanted to make marijuana legal in California. Since alcohol is legal, why can marijuana be legal?

Sign of reasoning is “Argument by sign asserts that two or more things are so closely related that the presence or absence of one indicates the presence or absence of the other” (speaking.pitt.edu).

An example is, the sun is setting is a sign that it is night.

Causal relationship reasoning is “where the occurrence of one (the cause) is supposed to bring about or produce an occurrence of the other (the effect)” (philosophypages.com).

EX: Global warming is getting worse because icebergs are melting and sea levels are rising.

Reasoning by Criteria- Reasoning by Example- it is like a comparison

Example: My nails are purple like plums.  

Criteria reasoning

"Start by defining the criteria by which the outcome of a decision will be judged, and then identify the best decision, given these constraints." (changingminds.org)

Exemplar reasoning

Exemplar reasoning is the use of examples in argument. The example may be told as a story or may be a short comparator. It may be a duplicate of the situation or may be a relatively distant metaphor.(changingminds.org)

Inductive reasoning, “also known as induction or inductive logic, or educated guess in colloquial English, is a kind of reasoning that draws generalized conclusions from a finite collection of specific observations” (Wikipedia).

Ex: I stop at a red light because it is the law; therefore, everyone has to stop at a red light.

Deductive

Deductive reasoning, “also called deductive logic, is reasoning which constructs or evaluates deductive arguments” (Wikipedia).

All X are Y (premise)
All Y are Z (premise)
Hence, all X are Z (conclusion)

Ex: Everyone in my English class is failing the course. Jackie is failing the course. Therefore, Jackie is in my English class. 

Interesting 411

I thought that appeal to spite was an interesting emotion. An appeal to spite emotion is “a logical fallacy in which someone attempts to win favor for their argument by exploiting existing feelings of bitterness or spite in the opposing party” (fact-index.com). It means an emotion of revenge. Oh how I love this fallacy. There is nothing better than revenge. I can always forgive and forget, but there are some things that I cannot forgive and forget.  Not that I am a bad person or anything, but there are times when I feel like revenge is needed. If they do me wrong, I cannot just say its okay and move on; it is payback time.  A personal example of mines is that I have a friend who ditched me for her boyfriend. When her boyfriend broke up with her, she came running back to me. I did not like that, because she was always with her boyfriend and never had time for me, so when her boyfriend broke up with her, she came back to me and wanted to hang out. I am not a stuffed animal that you can come back to whenever you wanted. No way! So I told her I was busy, though I was not.  Another non-personal example is

Lailani- I cannot choose between Kailee or Emma. Um... Ok I am voting for Kailee for prom queen this year.

Victoria- I know I should not tell you this, but oh whatever Kailee and I are not friends anymore.

Lailani- What is it, tell me?

Victoria- Well… this is hard to say, but she called you a B***H at the library during winter break.

Lailani- Oh great! Scratch that, I am voting for Emma!

Objective number 3

I chose number 3 for the questions part. It says to find an advertisement that uses an appeal to fear. I went online and found a lot of advertisement that are appealing to fear but here are the a few that I liked.

http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/advertisements/fear%20ads/pages/anti-drug_jpg.htm

This picture is an appeal to fear because for parents to not know where their children are at, is fear. It is the fear of the children out doing something bad as drugs. It says, “At 4:00, my kids will be at ______”. I think that this is a good appeal to fear because if a parent cannot fill in the blanks, then something is wrong.

Another one is a fear ad of babies.

http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/advertisements/fear%20ads/pages/sids_jpg.htm

The fear is that you do not want to kill your baby, so put the baby to sleep on their back. I hope that this never happens to anyone’s child nor do I hope that a parent will do this to his or her child. If the parents cannot support the child anymore, give it up for adoption; do not kill the baby. The fear in this picture is that if you put the baby to sleep upside down, the baby will die, so put the baby in the right position when he or she sleeps. 

Appeal to Emotion

“Appeal to emotion in an argument is just a premise that says, roughly, you should believe or do something because you feel a certain way” (Epstein 191). There are many types of emotion: pity, consequences, flattery, ridicule, spite, wishful thinking, ignorance, and fear. Appealing to fear is a way for people to manipulate, convince, and trick you. Appeal to pity is “in which a person substitutes a claim intended to create pity for evidence in an argument” (http://www.nizkor.org). I think that appealing to fear emotion strikes me more. Appealing to fear strikes me more because I use it in my everyday life. For example, my brother in law was driving too fast on interstate highway 5 this summer when we went on a vacation to Los Angeles.

Me: You shouldn’t drive so fast at night.

Brother-in-Law- Why not?

Me: Because there are many cops.

This argument appeals to my brother in laws fears. The unstated appeal to emotion is, “you should drive too fast at night because the cops can pull you over and give you a ticket”.

Soon after I said that, just our luck, my brother in law got pulled over. He was going 103 MPH on the highway. I mean I did not see why we could not go so fast because no one else was on the road but that is the law and we cannot do anything about it.