Chapter 12 Reasoning by criteria

. Reasoning by criteria was the most difficult for me to understand because I did not see what was the problem with the argument. I think it was difficult for me to understand because my roommates and I do this all the time. Thinking about it this way helped me understand it as well because sometimes this annoys me when we bring things home without discussing it first because something general such and a rug, curtains, chairs and tables can be in many different designs and may not be what is wanted. When it was explained to me this way it made more sense. It is stating something that is too general to just pick because there are so many options. The criteria you have to reason with is not very much so this makes for a bad argument with little evidence to back up the conclusion.

Chapter 12 Reasoning

1). Reasoning by Analogy: Saying we can just be friends is like my mom saying my dog died and I can still keep it. This is a comparison between two situations but it is not meant to be a good argument. These things are similar and have a similar emotionally outcome but are not related enough to have a good argument.
2). Sign Reasoning: Where there is a sorority house there is a party. This is using signing because it is group two things together that you automatically think of but it is not good for an argument because you can not reverse it. This could be true but then if you reverse it you could have a party without a sorority house.
3). Causal Reasoning- Joe’s work ethic makes Maria want to send him home early, Maria sending Joe home early makes his work ethic worse. This is causal reasoning because one thing causes another and it just ends up in a never ending circle.
4). Reasoning by Criteria- My roommate wants a new couch so I will just buy this futon. This is when something is decided before it is discussed.
5). Reasoning by Example- If you want to wake up in the morning you should have Starbucks coffee. I have a cup every morning and it gets me through the day. This is where you back up your reasoning with an example.
6). Inductive- All the boys in my class are dumb therefore all boys are dumb. This is when you argue from general to specific.
7). Deductive – All dogs like to run, Jimmy is a dog so Jimmy likes to run. This is arguing from specific to general.

Chapter 10

Another topic in chapter ten that really interested me was a feel good argument, which is an argument that make you want to feel good about yourself. This argument has a missing premise and doesn’t give you a reason to believe her argument is true it just make you feel good about yourself. An example is “Coach you should play me as quarterback because you are such an amazing coach and make the perfect plays and want to win the game.” This makes the coach feel good but does not give a reason to make this person quarterback. This is done a lot in today’s world an many people refer to it as apple polishing or sucking up. I have seen a lot of people get what they want by using this fallacy and it is a shame that some people don’t realize it is a bad argument and don’t need evidence to back it up.

Appeal to fear ad

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&noj=1&tbm=isch&tbnid=DeHVv_C0awVC7M:&imgrefurl=http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/advertisements/fear%2520ads/pages/rogaine_jpg.htm&docid=F3AaaC7gCT4rxM&imgurl=http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/advertisements/fear%252520ads/images/rogaine_jpg.jpg&w=742&h=1089&ei=toq0Tsb9CKqPigLj0OBl&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=678&sig=108572797309938422470&page=1&tbnh=153&tbnw=104&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=69&ty=98&biw=1173&bih=512

This argument is appeal to fear because it is stating that men balding is a genetic trait and if you do not want this you can use Rogaine. It states “Your dad want you to have things he never had. Like hair.” This is many young males fear that they will go bald so therefore if you use Rogaine this will be fixed. It is not a good argument because your dad could want you to have many things in your life that you didn’t have. A better argument would be “Use Rogaine so you could have things that your dad didn’t. Like hair.” This advertisement would be very persuasive to men starting to bald or have a dad who is bald but there could be many other traits to be scared of as well or their dad might not be balding. The best argument would be “If you are scared of balding, use Rogaine.

Appeal to Emotion

The specific appeal to emotion that really caught my interest was the appeal to spite because I never considered it to be a type of fallacy or an appeal to emotion. Appeal to spite is when someone tries to win an argument by bring up a past event that cause them bitterness or spite. This causes a poor argument because more than likely the two situations are unrelated. I see this fallacy multiple times a day especially in today’s world where it seems like we always have to be even with each other. It goes back to an old saying two wrongs do not make a right. This is more a moral judgment than an argument. An example I see frequently is at my work when someone needs their shift covered. The reasoning is always Alex didn’t cover my shift on Friday night so I will not help him do the inventory count. This is something I am now aware of and am going to limit the appeal to spite in my reasoning.

Oct 17th-22nd Question 3

Another aspect of chapter eight I found interesting the general claims and their contradictions. A general claim is when something is asserted in a general way is stated about a collection. For example all sorority girls are blonde, Jen is a sorority girl so Jen must be blonde. This may seem valid but it is not. Girls in sororities have different hair color and are not all blonde. All means every single one with no exceptions and I think people need to use this word more carefully when stating a claim. When using the word “some” it means a least one but not all and is a really vague word to use in an argument because it is not a specific number. The word “no” means not a single one with no exceptions and needs to be sure when inserted into an argument that exceptions can not be made.

Oct 17th-22nd Question 2

One Aspect of chapter 8 that I found interesting was valid and invalid forms. I really liked the way the book showed it in the validity diagram because it made it easy to see why the arguments are strong or weak. The direct way of reasoning with all is a strong argument because If all squirrels eat nuts, Joey is a squirrel, so Joey eats nuts. If you do this backwards All squirrels eat nuts, Joey eats nuts, so Joey is a squirrel. This is arguing backwards with all. A personal example I have with this is at San Jose State University for my classes. My advisor said: You are a design major so you take art history classes so next semester you need to take art history classes next semester. This would not work with indirect reasoning with all because it would be I need to take art history classes so I am a design major so I need to take art history classes next semester. This could be true but with indirect reasoning there are many other reasons why I could be taking an art history class.