W11: Appeal to Pity

           

            A concept from Chapter 10 that I found very interesting was an appeal to pity.  An appeal to pity is when a person tries to gain support for their argument by making a person feel a sense of guilt or sadness.  I think an appeal to pity is used because people know that guilt is a big motivator for people to take action.  When pity or guilt is evoked from someone, they usually try to get rid of that sense of guilt by trying to help the cause. 

        

          An example of an appeal to pity would be the people that stand around the student union and ask people passing by “Which is cuter… a baby sea lion or a baby panda?”  They ask you this question and once you answer which is cuter, they show you a picture of that animal being mistreated.  They use the appeal to pity to get people to fight against this kind of animal cruelty.  They show the disturbing photos to evoke that sense of pity and guilt, and it definitely works.

W11: Appeal to Fear

            For exercise number three, I had to find an advertisement that appealed to a person’s emotion of fear.  I found this advertisement online that showed the consequences of drinking and driving. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwu7L38glcQ&feature=related

            This ad definitely appealed to people’s emotions of fear.  I think that a good majority of people are afraid of death because it is so unexpected and unavoidable.  This ad shows how making the simple decision to drive, can lead to traumatic consequences.  I think that this ad is effective and is a good argument because it emphasizes people’s fear of death.  To me, this advertisement definitely made a statement.  It showed how one simple decision, could dramatically affect the lives of innocent people who have so much to live for.   This advertisement appealed to fear by showing what can happen from making such a decision and it also really gets people to think twice about getting behind the wheel after drinking. 

W11: Appeal to Emotion

                Appeal to emotion is an argument that is used to cater to or manipulate a person’s emotions.  A person’s emotions are very important to consider when presenting an argument.  It is possible to appeal to fear, consequences, flattery, pity, vanity, ridicule, spite, or ignorance.  An appeal to emotion that strikes me is the appeal to flattery.   This strikes me because flattery is a very manipulative way to get what you want.

               An example of an appeal to flattery would be if a student was sent to the principal’s office for bad behavior.  The student should be punished, however the student sweet talks and flatters the principal by saying things like, “Surely a man as intelligent, generous, and kind as you can find it in your big heart to let this go.”  The principal is so overwhelmed with compliments and praise and the principal decides to let the student off the hook.  This is an appeal to flattery because the student used flattery to hide their own faults and to get the principal to support their argument.

W9: D3 Ways of reasoning with "All"

A concept from chapter 8 that I found very useful was the use of "all" in arguments.  There is a direct way of reasoning with "all" that will lead to a valid argument, and there is a way of arguing backwards with "all" that will typically lead to a weak argument.

 The direct way of reasoning with "all" follows this structure:

All B are C

T is B

So T is C

An example of this would be:

All babies wear diapers.

Tom is a baby.

So Tom wears diapers.

This leads to a valid argument.

Arguing backwards with "all" leads to generally weak arguments like this:

All babies wear diapers.

Tom wears diapers.

So Tom is a baby.

This is a weak argument because not every single person that wears a diaper is a baby.  This argument is weak because it disregards many other possibilities and therefore it is not a dependable argument.

W9: D2

                Typically, I like working in groups so I was excited when I learned that we would have a group assignment.  I was also very curious and hesitant as to how it would work out since it was an assignment for an online class.  Thankfully, it all worked out well and it was a very interesting experience being placed to work with group of people that I initially had never met or seen before.  I thought this was useful for helping me gain experience for if I ever have to work with people in another state or just not be able to physically work with someone.  The first assignment itself also allowed me to gain experience with analyzing real claims in articles involving present issues, and also find and analyze the evidence used to support the claim.  Overall, the first major course assignment was very beneficial to improving my communication skills.

W9: General Claims, "All" and "Some"

                What do “all” and “some” mean?  Both “all” and “some”, have meanings that depend on the argument.  All means, “Every single one, no exceptions”.  All can sometimes mean “Every single one, and there is at least one”.  Some means, “At least one”.  Some can also mean “At least one,but not all.”

                The word “some” is typically used when someone is trying to be vague.  The speaker is not being accurate and wants their options to be broad.  For example, when I asked my brother if I could eat “some” of his chips, I was really asking him if I could eat a majority of the bag.  He replied by saying I could eat “some”.  That answer was very nonspecific and allowed me to interpret it the way I wanted to which was that I could eat a majority of the bag, when he could have really only meant to allow me to have one or two.  He really should have been more specific.  Nevertheless, by saying I could have “some”, he was guaranteeing that I could at least have one chip.

W7: D3 Refuting an Argument

A concept from Chapter 7 that I found interesting was refuting an argument.  Being able to show that an argument is unrepairable is helpful in refuting an argument. In order to refute an argument one must see that the following three occur:

-          Show that at least one of the premises is dubious.

-          Show that the argument isn’t valid or strong.

-          Show that the conclusion is false.

An example argument would be:

It is always best to cut your own hair.  Salons are always busy.  The hairdresser never cuts your hair the way you want it.  You will end up leaving sad and ugly.  Therefore, it is simply best to cut your own hair.

This argument can be refuted by pointing out that most of the premises are unreliable and just not true.  It is false to say that all salons are always busy and it is also false to say that all hairdressers never cut hair the way a person wants it.  The argument is not strong at all because the premises and the conclusion are simply weak, most of the claims being completely false.  Due to these factors, the argument can easily be refuted.