Concept - Cause and Effect

I learned in Chapter 15 some interesting things about Cause and Effects concepts more. These concepts are about how to create a plausible argument using causes and effects. For a cause and effect argument to be plausible, certain things must be true. The cause and effect must have happened. The cause must precede the effect. It usually never occurs that the cause will happen and the effect not happen, under normal conditions of course. If the cause doesn't happen then the effect would not happen either. And if there is no common cause. There are ways to mistake the cause and effect, which can cause the argument to be implausible. When ever there is a misconception in an argument automatically that argument can become implausible. An example of a mis conception would be,

Dan called Serena, Serena didn't answer, Serena's phone is dead and thats why.

To further examine this is not the truth, Serena's phone was just in the other room.

For a cause and effect argument to be true, you must be sure of the cause and of the effect.

Mission Critical Website

The mission critical web site was very helpful. I definitely liked it a lot. The way it was organized into each concept worked really well, I definitely learned a lot! All of the concepts we learned over the course of the semester are featured through this web site. This web site will help when it comes time to study for the final. All of the details on the web site are straight forward. The book doesn't offer such a straight forward approach. In the book I feel like we have to interpret all of the material into a solid definition. The examples on the web page are accompanied with pretty clear definitions. For me, actually reading straight definitions helps me understand concepts a lot better. Sometimes I search through the book to help to remember old concepts. This website will be great whenever I need to study for this class.

Cause and Effects Website

It was very helpful to use this online resource because not only did it give real world example, but it explained causation very clearly. Sometimes in the Epstein book some of the concepts can be hard to understand. There is not always a lot of clarity when it comes to definitions and such. In the example of the traffic accident with the cyclist the author of the webpage explains how the cause and effects are in fact products of inductive reasoning. Some things like the accident explained in this website happen every day, it is good knowledge to know that this can be used in real life situations. Some of my classes I sit and think to myself, “When will this ever apply to life? Why am I learning this information?” When it comes to the topic of cause and effect it becomes a lot more clear that these arguments can actually be put to good use.

Judging Analogies

Analogies are a very good way to make a valid argument.

Understanding Reasoning by Analogy

While going through the different types of reasoning the professor assigned I though reasoning by analogy to be difficult to understand in some ways. After reading through the explanations on this website I was able to understand a lot better.

http://www4.samford.edu/schools/netlaw/dh2/logic/analogy.htm

Before reading this website I wasn’t aware that reasoning by analogy was a type of inductive reasoning. To break down the concept an analogy is comparing two things that are similar to explain one of the things. The structure is like this:

X is like Y or B is similar to C.

An example of this in day to day life would be in a situation where someone felt that giving an analogy would better prove their point, rather than a straight definition.

“There is nothing like going to Hawaii in the spring, it’s truly like heaven on earth.”

This person is comparing Hawaii to heaven, this gives the person listening the idea of how amazing Hawaii is in the spring.

Resoning

Reasoning by Analogy:

Reasoning by analogy is a way to compare two things that are similar to each other. An example of this type of reasoning would be, “Blair’s language is like that of a sailor!” Comparing Blair’s cursing with a sailor is a way to say that her language isn’t acceptable, without having to say that in all those words.

Sign Reasoning:

Sign reasoning in arguments is used with evidence or with an implied explanation. For example if Blair were to say, “In high school, there are no classes held on Saturday and Sunday.” There is evidence that this is true. You can go to a high school and you will see no student rushing from class to class, there is a sign there is no class held on these days.

Casual Reasoning:

With casual reasoning the use of cause and effects base the argument. By using causal reasoning one event relates to another event. An example of this would be if Blair studies for hours for her COMM midterm, she will pass it. It is assumed that if you study, you will pass. This is not always a valid argument, but it usually holds true.

Reasoning by Criteria:

Reasoning by criteria is a way of judging a situation by the circumstance. An example of reasoning by criteria would be, “Blair stopped at the stop sign,” because the law is to stop at a stop sign, every time.

Reasoning by example:

Reasoning by example is creating an argument based on an example you could use from passed events.

For example, “Don’t go to Disney Land, the lines are too long and everything is so expensive.” This person is saying that there are negative outcome from going to Disney Land, so it would be best not to go.

Inductive:

Results from specific observations.

Deductive:

Not such specific observations.

Chapter 10

I found chapter ten to be my favorite chapter yet. I feel that validity is all well and good when it comes to making an argument, but let’s face it for the most part arguments involve some form of emotion.Appealing to fear was a very interesting concept in that it describes a way of appealing to the emotion of fear to get someone to believe you. For example those who are against drug use will put out campaigns showing how using marijuana for example will damage family relationships and friends and even cause people to do poorly in school. The reader would see these reasons to not use marijuana as a threat and therefore not use the drug. Fear is used in political campaigns very often. Candidates will often make you feel like you should either vote for them or suffer some consequence. Appealing to fear, in my opinion, is not always a valid argument, but one will get their point across.

6. An appeal to spite

It is almost in our blood to feel as if revenge is a necessary action when one feels that they have been wronged. Appeal to spite is an interesting concept in that is it definitely a secondary emotion, but very powerful none-the-less. As humans we feel many different types of emotion, we are very complex beings. An example of appeal to spite would be as follows:

Dave: Can you help me trim the trees in my front yard?

Al: Well Dave, where were you when I was pulling weeds at my place last Sunday? You said you were too busy.

Dave is asking Al for a favor, but Al feels that it wouldn’t be fair if he went over and helped Dave because he was absent from helping Al with his yard work last weekend. This appeal to emotion does not make for a valid argument, but a good argument yes.