ch15 dq3

The Chapter 15 reading and the causal argument reading that we did go, hand in hand with each other. They both explain how a causal argument works and gave step by step examples that went along with their explanations. The one thing that the book talks about a little more in detail about is the necessary criteria for cause and effect. There are six things that must happen/be true in order for a causal argument to be produced. The six things are the cause happened, the effect happened, the cause precedes the effect, it is nearly impossible for the cause to happen and the effect not to happen, the cause makes a difference, and lastly that there is no common cause. Although the other reading stated these as well I think that the book did a better job of explaining each of them and why you must have these things in order to have a causal argument.

ch 15 dq2

The Mission: Critical website was way less helpful to me than the Causal Argument website. The way that this website is set up is very hard for me to understand and it was very hard for me to peruse the website for explanations on how to have a good argument. After I looked at the website for a while and began to understand it the one thing that I did find extremely useful and helpful was how it broke an argument down into a bullet point list. It shows very well the process and steps of an argument but it was still hard for me because the explanations were not on the same page. Since you had to click on each one as you were going through, I did not retain as much information for some reason. This website has a lot of good information but I think that it needs to be designed in a different way.

ch15 dq 1

I found the cause and effect website really helpful because of the way they broke everything down. Not only did they explain what a causal argument is but they did it while going through an example of one step by step. And if there was ever a place where two or three different things could be argued then they would stop and explain how each of those situations would work before moving on in the causal argument example. I also really liked how they used a real life situation as their example and how you would have to argue the case with the one significant difference that was the actual cause of the accident. Bicyclists do not stay in the bike lane at all times and in many cases they are the cause of an accident but according to the law if you rear-end someone then it is your fault for being too close to that person.

Ch 12 DQ #2

Reasoning by analogy was the hardest type of reasoning for me to understand. At first I read all of the different types of reasoning, then I went back and wrote examples for each of them but I had a very hard time writing an example for reasoning by analogy because I didn’t understand it very well. I read up a little more on the subject and I now fully understand how to reason by analogy. Reasoning by analogy not only has to do with reasoning with similar things, like in arguing by sign, but it has to do with reasoning with two things that you are trying to compare to one another. One of the websites that I looked at to help define this type of reasoning used an example of how to argue what an orange is by saying that it is similar to an apple. it was this example that really helped me to understand how to reason by analogy, and not just reasoning by using random examples.

Ch 12 DQ #1

Analogical reasoning is based solely on inductive reasoning. One example of analogical reasoning is: Premise 1: Males are humans. Premise 2: Daniel is a male. Conclusion: Daniel is human.

            Sign reasoning is another way of reasoning that deals with the relationship between two things. The thing about sign reasoning that is different from any other reasoning is that the two things are very closely related and they go hand in hand. You then have to decide if the relationship between the two things is strong or not. One thing that many people have to deal with in the winter is rain and an example of sign reasoning is "where it rains, you use your windshield wipers."

            Causal reasoning is another variety of inductive reasoning but in order to have causal reasoning you must have a cause and effect. You must use inductive reasoning in order to determine that from the cause, the effect will occur. Many students deal with lots of homework and sometimes they must turn in late work so an example of causal reasoning is that "if you turn your homework in late, you will not receive full credit."

            Criteria reasoning is a type of reasoning used in a situation that is not very logical and you state your criteria in a way that can be assumed as true. An example of this that many people deal with is with peer pressure and trying to get your friend to do something. Instead of saying "ask her out" you would say "you should go ask her if she would go to dinner with you because I heard that she think g you are really cute and really likes you."

            Reasoning by example is when a person gives an example in the favor of their argument in order to convince the other person that their argument is correct. An example of this type of reasoning is telling your buddy that he should ask her to dinner because once he had a friend who didn’t go after the girl that he liked and he regretted for years after.

            Deductive reasoning is when the conclusion cannot be false based on the premises. An example being, "everybody over the age of 16 can have their license, Sarah has her license, therefore Sarah is over 16."

            Inductive reasoning is when the conclusion can be inferred from the premise. An example of this being, "Ever since I was born a green light meant go and a red light meant stop." From this premise a person can assume that if they come to a stoplight a red light means stop and a green light means go"

Ch.10 DQ#2

When I read through this chapter and was told to give an example of an appeal to spite one moment that I remember vividly popped into my head. My dad owns his own architecture company and he is also a volunteer firefighter on the local team so he is a well known guy around our home and neighborhood. A few years back one of my dads acquaintances came to him and asked if he would design a remodel for their bathroom for free. My dad apologized and said that he couldn’t do it for free because he had been so swamped with jobs and work so if he was going to design it he would have to charge him. The other man got very mad at my dad and reminded him of how he had once helped my dad take down a tree that was dying in our backyard, and told my dad that he should return the favor. My dad wasn’t very happy with the man's approach to the situation to say the least so my dad again apologized and said no to the man. This argument was horrible and it was not strong or valid. The man just tried to guilt my dad into doing the job for him with no real reasoning behind it. When I was reading this chapter this was the first thing to pop into my head.

Chapter 10 DQ1

I don’t watch television very often but when I do I see commercials and ads trying to get my money out of me for one reason or another and they all use the appeal to emotion. One aspect of Appeal to Emotion that really caught my attention was the appeal to pity, because there is one add, that plays way quite often on all channels, which uses this aspect. The commercials about the abused and homeless animals show continuous pictures and short video clips of animals in cages, malnourished animals, and animals roaming in the streets for food. The ads say that these animals need help our help and that we can provide them with food and a good home by sending money.  The ads makes you feel pity and sorry for the animals, and the commercials make you feel this way in order to get you to send your money to them. This aspect of the Appeal to Emotion is used on television very regularly whether it is for poor kids, poor animals, or poor needy people; they all thrive on you feeling pity.