Week 5: Question 2

I choose this Verizon ad because I am currently looking for a new Verizon phone and this caught my attention. This ad is eye catching and the point they are trying to demonstrate is clear with one look at the picture. When you first look at it is relates to evaluating the premise and seeing and understanding what the add is trying to say, this ad is believable because you can see where in the United States Verizon cover and where AT&T cover and compare the differences. The ad also shows the Verizon company in red because that is their brand color and AT&T in blue because that is their color. I personally would not reject this claim because I have a Verizon phone and am very happy with it and my calls very rarely get dropped. I have not heard many bad things about AT&T but I would not recommend them because I have not tried their service and have always been happy with Verizon.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=verizon+ads&num=10&um=1&hl=en&biw=1173&bih=537&tbm=isch&tbnid=sZY3alKbDQnYbM:&imgrefurl=http://pinoytutorial.com/techtorial/verizon-vs-att-verizons-ads-are-true-and-the-truth-hurts/&docid=DR12_CehWrYH9M&w=426&h=251&ei=1M2ETrjEBsbXiALBnYieDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=407&vpy=251&dur=154&hovh=172&hovw=293&tx=148&ty=104&sqi=2&page=1&tbnh=117&tbnw=198&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:0

Week 5: Question 1

I’m going to fix the argument “You shouldn’t drink coffee because it has caffeine. Caffeine makes you never want to sleep.” This argument is not bad but it also is not the best is could be. This argument is rhetorical and is missing the premise and has the conclusion in the first sentence. Saying “caffeine makes you never want to sleep” is true but will not give us a conclusion for the argument of why you should not drink coffee. Both of the statements are true but they are missing the glue that corresponds them together. You could fix the argument by saying “You shouldn’t drink coffee because it has a lot of caffeine and you wont be able to sleep after.” It is obvious that if you want to sleep you shouldn’t drink coffee with caffeine but we tend to ignore this because statements like this happen all the time.

Week Three Question 3

What I learned this past week that stuck out to me was in the Epsion book and it was concentrating on fallacies. It made me think of what a good and a bad argument consist of and how we use bad examples in our arguments such as fallacies. Examples of fallacies are begging the question where you have the question at the begging and the end of the argument and you are not solving anything. Also you have slippery slope where the argument and conclusion do not relate to each other. These are the two most common fallacies they I see used in everyday conversation. Reading this has made me more aware of how to take these out of my arguments and add more valid information.

I chose the argument

“I’m on my way to school. I left five minutes late. Traffic is heavy. Therefore, I’ll be late to class. So I might as well stop and get breakfast.”

Yes it is an argument.

1. I’m on my way to school

2. I left five minutes late.

3. Traffic is heavy

4. I will be late to class.

Conclusion: I might as well get breakfast

Additional premises needed: Since I left late and traffic is heavy I will be late for class

Identify the sub argument: The sub argument is statements 1 and 4 because they contribute to the conclusion.

Good Argument: No it is not a good argument because you are late to class and this is the arguments concern and therefore you stopping for breakfast will make you more late which is what you are trying to avoid in the first place.

I think this exercise was useful because it made us break apart the argument and analyze it. It makes you think about how the different parts of the argument relate to the conclusion.

Week Three Question 2

Question 2

Begging the question is the most common fallacy used because it is directly related to the conclusion. This is when the conclusion is stated and the beginning and the end of the argument so it just goes in circles and never really accomplishes anything. You are trying to prove your argument is right rather than proving their argument wrong. It is showing that the conclusion is true without showing proof of why this conclusion is true.

An example of begging the question is “I think this guy is unattractive because he is ugly” It is not saying why you think he is unattractive because ugly and unattractive have similar meanings. This is not a strong argument because you can keep asking why you think he is unattractive and then why you think he is ugly. This question is never answered and doesn’t provide any support to prove your conclusion is right.

Week Two: Question 1

My argument is all sorority girls like pink. Sami is a sorority girl. Therefore Sami's favorite color is pink.
The three things that make a strong argument are; the premises are plausible, the premises are more plausible than the conclusion and the argument is valid or strong.
The premises for this argument is plausible but we do not necessarily know if it is true. There are over a million sorority women in the United States all with different values and personalities. I have friends in a sorority and some of their favorite colors and pink and then some of them are different colors. This argument is not valid and weak because the premises can be true and the conclusion can be false. In this case Sami's choice in being in a sorority has no effect on what her favorite color could be. This makes the argument bad because we are jumping to conclusions this is an example of assumptive fallacies. This is an example of a bad argument.

Week One: Discusion Question 3

The topic I found very important and something I can apply to this class is from the reading "Group Communication." This topic was the deliberation and participation in groups. This discussed how not every member of the group is equal because everyone has different backgrounds, education levels and skills. This still means everyone in the group should participate in the work equally. However in groups some people don not put in their input even though it would be helpful. This is because the could experience anxiety about talking in a group, have low self-esteem, other members of the group may be controlling or members may have a lower position in the group and not want to address the manager type figure. Groups that have an imbalance of participation end up having more trouble coming up with a successful end result. I think this is good to remember when working in a group because then we can work together to make sure everyone has a chance to participate and hold every member accountable.

Week One: Discusion Question 2

A vague sentence I have heard recently is “I have a lot of money in the bank.” This is vague because you don’t know how much money is in the bank, what bank it is in, why they have a lot of money in the bank or what they are planning to do with this money. I overheard this conversation at work and did not think anything about it until I realized there are so many questions that can be asked behind a statement.

An ambiguous sentence I overheard in my house was “He gave her cat food.” It can either be interpreted at he gave the lady’s cat food or he fed the lady cat food. The first scenario is more likely that the second but it can still be confused as to what the person is really trying to communicate.

Week One: Disscusion Question 1

A subjective claim is a claim that can not be proven true or false and have different answers depending on the subject or person holding the discussion.

Example: Dogs make the best pets. This claim is subjective because some people could agree or disagree with this statement based on their personal opinion. I was in a conversation with a group of friend and brought this topic up and many people disagreed with me because the had a small house, were allergic to dogs or didn’t have enough time to care for a dog. It made me realize just because a statement is true for you does not mean it will be true for everyone else.

An objective claim is something that is a fact and can not be proven wrong not matter what the circumstances are.

Example: I was working at Starbucks this past weekend and someone asked me how to make a standard tall- sized latte. I replied you have a one-ounce shot of espresso and ten ounces of milk and lay a thin layer of foam on the top. This is how a standard latte is always made and there are recipe cards to look at and no matter the circumstance or person who is asking the question the answer will always be the same.