Xtra Topic

I found the concept about cause and effect in population useful and interesting. Cause in population 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 p.320). An example is people who tan have a much higher probability of getting skin caner or eye cancer than non-tanners. People who tan or tan excessively have been proven to get certain eye and skin cancers and even though there are other factors that contribute to these illnesses both theses illness have been proven to be caused by cancer. Since the exact number of tans or exposure to UV-Rays is not know to directly cause cancer the cause and effect shows the higher probability of the illnesses. I found this concept in chapter fifteen to be most interesting. Cause and effect in populations are very common and useful to know about and see in life and I like how relatable this topic was to life.

Mission Critical Website

I expected the mission critical site to be a lot similar to the cause and effect website but I found the complete opposite. I was very overwhelmed at first with the mission critical site there was a lot of links and I almost just didn’t even want to start. I then found that the site was surprisingly useful and easy to navigate around. It laid out useful and important information about arguments and fallacies. I like how the concepts were laid out so plainly so each of the individual topics are explained correctly. I found the explanation of arguments very useful. It helped to re-learn those basics of arguments and the different parts of the arguments that we had studied earlier in the semester. I also found it very useful to just go over all this information in general through the website; especially the examples of good and bad arguments really helped me understand the concept that much better. I really liked both the cause and effect and mission critical websites.

Cause and Effect Website

I found the cause and effect website to be very useful and a different experience with learning new material. The book has been our main source of information for this class and it was interesting to be able to try a different style of learning especially with the exercises the website used. I also found the website to be very useful because of the examples that were very easily understood. I especially like the example with the traffic accident that showed how cause effect arguments worked. I also found the information about the three factors in determining the strength of a casual argument: (1) how acceptable or demonstrable the implied comparison is, (2) how likely the case for causation seems to be, (3) and how credible the "only significant difference" or "only significant commonality" claim is. I really liked the learning style of the website and found the website and the information in it very useful.

Interesting Topic

One concept from the assigned reading that I thought was interesting was an argument that calls in your debts. “An argument that calls in your debts appeals to the opposite of spite: “You should believe or do something if you owe someone a favor” (Epstein 193)”. For example:

Jessica: How can you go to the mall with Stacey and not go with me? You owe me from that time I helped you do your homework?

Bringing up the person debt as a way to get what you want is an example of calling in your debts. This in turn makes you feel guilty so now you feel compelled to go to the mall with Jessica. I believe that just because you helped someone does not mean you get to demand when you get the help back. I thought this concept was interesting because this concept applies to an experience that most people can say that they have gone through.

Pg 195 #3

3. Find an advertisement that’s uses an appeal to fear. Is it a good argument?
-Ad URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl5gBJGnaXs
~The advertisement I choose that shows appeal to fear is a drug advertisement from the late eighties and early nineties showing an egg frying in a frying pan to demonstrate what your brain looks like on drugs. This advertisement is not a good argument. There is no evidence to show that your brain looks like a fried egg when you do drugs. This advertisement is meant to scare viewers into not wanting to try drugs because of the horrible effects it has on your brain. The feeling of fear is invoked through this commercial because any damage to your brain is very scary, even though the commercial over exaggerates the damaged cause by drugs. This commercial is not showing any logic to prove there point. How much drugs make your brain fry? Which drugs make your brain fry? The advertisement is making a general statement about drugs that has no support.

Appeal to Emotion

Emotion plays a significant role in making decisions for everyday life, “An appeal to emotion in an argument is a premise that says you should believe or do something because you feel a certain way (Epstein 191)”. When appealing to emotion no valid logic is used instead the recipients emotions are manipulated to make the argument seem valid and logical. Some different aspects to appeal to emotion are appeal to fear, appeal to pity, appeal to spite and appeal to vanity. The aspect that strikes me most is appeal to pity. I would most often find myself feeling bad from advertisements where appeal to pity is used. The appeal to pity the advertiser uses makes me feel compelled to give money to the organization and help when I don’t even know anything about the cause or organization. In my personal experience I find myself most subject to appeal to pity. Emotion does play an important part in making a decision but at the same time too much emotion can change your perception and decision.

Another Ch 8 Concept

Something that I found to be very useful during this assigned reading was the way the book teaches us how to use a diagram to check for valid and invalid forms. The book shows you how to make the diagram to represent the premise by breaking each sentence down into parts within each other to prove whether or not the claim is valid. For example, “All cats meow. Everything that meows is a mammal. So all cats are mammals. The “cat” area is inside the “things that meow” area and the “things that meow” area is inside the “mammal” area. From this diagram we can tell that cats ends up being inside of the mammal area representing that all cats are mammals. The diagram also shows that the premise and conclusion are true meaning the argument is valid. This concept was useful for me to learn because it helped me understand visually a lot better how to check an arguments validity.

Course Assingments

I found the second major course assignment to be very useful. After researching about the specific organization to do the paper on I found it useful to have gained the knowledge I learned about that organization. It’s always useful when learning about an organization such as the World Wildlife Federation, the organization my group chose. Just knowing about what the WWF does and how I could help if I wanted to was important information that I was glad to have learned about. The essay itself was also very useful too. Finding how the organization used emotionally appealing advertisements was useful to me. It showed me how not only this organization but many others use emotion in their ad’s to lure you into their cause. Learning about this has definitely made me more aware of any ad that uses emotional appeal to see whether this cause is something that I am passionate about or something that is just emotionally appealing to me. For example my group used an ad the WWF had that played on peoples emotions using September 11th and relating it to Brazil Tsunami in May 2009. Emotional appeal is how a lot of these organizations draw people in to them. It was useful for me to be able to better understand and analyze advertisements and see what different concepts that these ads are trying to relay. The second paper was useful to me in many ways and I am glad I learned a lot from it.

Ch 8 Concept

A concept in chapter eight that I found to be useful was general claims using words like all, some, no and only. The definitions of these words are very important for their use. For example all means, “Every single one, no exceptions (Epstein p.160)”. After reading these precise definitions it made me think of how many times any one of those words is misused. I know personally I am guilty of using the word “all” incorrectly. Just the other day I told my sister that she leaves her clothes out everywhere all the time; in reality it just seems like it’s all the time but it’s really only some of the time that she does this. It’s really important for the purpose of an argument or claim that these words are used correctly so that you’re speaking truthfully and exact to the situation. Learning this concept has made me more aware of these words and how to use them effectively. When making any claim we should all make sure to use words like all, some, no and only correctly so that others can know exactly what you are talking about.

Something Interesting from Chapter 5

One concept that I found interesting was in chapter five about criteria for accepting or rejecting claims. In this section it explains how “our most reliable source of information about the world is our own experience”. This statement was so interesting to me because you would think that something like an Encyclopedia or even the internet would be more reliable. The more I thought about the concept it became cleat that even something you read on the internet is at least a second hand or third hand source if not more down the line. What you witness and discover about the world is always a first hand source to you and your most credible source, “we need to trust our own experience because that‘s the best we have, everything else is second hand. We accept a claim if we know it is true from our own experience and we reject a claim if we know it is false from our own experiences. This is because we are so credible that if we know different we can reject the claims.

Internet Advertisment

Url: http://barrettclark1files.wordpress.com/2009/11/tag-vball-ad-downloadable1.jpg



The advertisement that I found on the internet is for Tag body spray cologne. The picture has a bunch of women volleyball players piling up on this guy. The guy is portrayed as irresistible to women once this spray is used. In big letters across the ad saying, “WARNING” reassures the confidence of the product along with the “tag warned” card cut-out for emergency paper work in case of pile –up. A classic “look; cool” attention getter for the young audience to lure in for the product purchase. The ad is basically claiming with the help of Tag body spray cologne you will be irresistible to women. I personally reject this claim. No man will create such an event through the smell of his cologne. The ad is presenting a false claim we cannot trust the company especially when no respectable authority figure is present. My little brother uses Tag body spray cologne and it in no way makes me want to act any different just by smelling it. Although this ad does not trigger my attention it seems to be popular amount young boys and they are appealed by the ad.

Repairing Arguments

There are three guidelines required in repairing an argument in order to make it better. If the argument is bad, we are justified in adding a premise or conclusion that satisfies these three guidelines.
1. The argument becomes stronger or valid.
2. The premise is plausible and would seem plausible to the other person.
3. The premise is more plausible than the conclusion.

Example: “All models are tall; Sally is tall, therefore, Sally must be a model”

Analysis: “Sally is a model” is the only premise that will make this valid or strong argument. Saying Sally is a model is the only premise plausible enough for the other person to understand the argument. This is when you say an assumption works in both directions, even if there’s no reason to believe so. Just because A means B doesn’t mean B means A. The sentence is also a good indicator of a conclusion because it uses the word, “therefore” which shows that a conclusion is coming up.

Extra Topic: Participative Leader

One concept I found interesting in the assigned reading was the characteristics of a participative leader (O’Hair 34):
- Ask “gatekeeping” questions to involve nonparticipating members
- Summarizes discussions for group clarity
- Gives his or her own input and ask members for more
- “harmonizes: discussions that may involve personal conflict
- Announces a problem and opens it for discussion rather than announces a solutions
- Encourages all-channel participation, wherein communication flows laterally, upward, and downward.

I found this concept interesting because when we think of being a leader a check list does not come to mind but all these characteristics are certainly a big part of being a participative leader. I never knew what a participative leader was or that there was even any different type of leadership before reading the assigned reading this week. All these characteristics are very important to being an active leader working with other group members with a goal in mind. Although this method produces slow decisions at times they are typically best quality decisions that would of not been made otherwise.

Testing for Arguments

There are three roles that must be met in order for an argument to be good:
1. The premises are plausible
2. The premises are more plausible than the conclusion
3. The argument is valid or strong.

Example: I think chocolate is the best kind of candy you can eat. My sister thinks chocolate is the best kind of candy you can eat. Everyone I know thinks chocolate is the best kind of candy you can eat.

Explanation: In this example the premise is true and plausible, I think that chocolate is the best kind of chocolate candy, and my sister also thinks chocolate is the best kind of candy. The premise is more plausible than the conclusion because I only know two people who think chocolate is the best kind of candy therefore I cant conclude just from two people that everyone thinks chocolate is the best. My argument is not valid because I do not have the proper evidence to know just from two people that everyone likes chocolate and thinks it’s the best candy.

Extra Topic: Descriptive and Prescriptive Claims

Another concept I found useful in the assigned readings for this week was the concept about prescriptive and descriptive claims. A claim is descriptive if it says what is and a claim is prescriptive if it says what should be (Epstein 24). An example of a descriptive claim would be Susie is hot. An example of a prescriptive claim would be Susie should put something cooler on. A perspective claim is often backed by a value judgment saying what should or shouldn’t be done. I think this is an important concept to learn because it fits hand in hand with subjective and objective claims. Before reading this chapter I didn’t know how important it was to be clear when speaking and how easy it is to be too vague when speaking. Also after reading this chapter I realize all the times that vague sentences are used everyday and it’s acceptable. From now on I want to be clearer when speaking and use more description in my sentences and statements.

Vague Sentence

An example from everyday life of a vague sentence is asking for the time and getting a response like “It’s half past three”, “It’s about half past three” or “It’s almost half past three”. All of these answers although acceptable in most situations are very vague once looked at closer. I heard this sentence just the other day when I asked someone what time it was. At first the answer, its almost half past three, seemed correct but only to find about five minuets later that the person’s opinion of what almost half past three meant was a lot different of a time then what I think of when someone tells me it’s half past three. These answers are considered to be vague sentences because there are many different ways to understand the sentence and we can’t settle on one of them without the speaker making it clearer. Without an exact time the statements are vague and could mean very different things to many different people.

Objective vs Subjective Claim

An objective claim is a statement about a factual matter that can be proved true or false. For factual matters there exist widely recognized criteria and methods to determine whether a claim is true or false. A subjective claim on the other hand is not a factual matter it is an expression of belief, opinion, or personal preference. A subjective claim cannot be proved right or wrong by any generally accepted criteria. Example: "That was a hard test". This is a subjective claim because it is based off personal criteria for how hard or easy a test is. Compared to what? Did the person study? Is it a difficult subject? Example: "If you had actually sat in that class this whole semester you would have saw just how hard that test was". This is an objective claim because it is based off a factual claim that is up to you to decide whether you're in agreement with the original statement making it non-personal.

Introduction

Hello Everyone,
I am Mrs. Rival I grew up in a small town near Santa Cruz where I went to pretty much K-12. I love the beach and hanging out with family and friends. I am excited to start this semester but very exhausted at the same time. I spent all of winter break traveling to see family and ended it with a very rocky cruise to Mexico to which I just arrived from on Monday. This semester should be quiet a challenge as well as taking classes at San Jose State I am also taking classes at West Valley and Cabrillo College to try and fulfill my GE requirements. I have taken a class with professor. Perez before and she is a great teacher that I learned a lot from and now will continue to learn more from. I hope everyone enjoys this class and has a great semester.