Past Concept

The one concept that I picked from this semester was the concept of reasoning. I thought that the different types of reasoning was a really useful, as well as interesting because of the many different types of reasoning. Reasoning is probably the biggest concept behind critical thinking. I did not think there were that many different types and kind of reasoning. I just always thought that reasoning was reasoning, and not that it varied in type. You can apply all the different types of reasoning to different aspect of your daily life.
Like for example today, I used Reasoning By Criteria to figure out what to get for my secret Santa. I used Inductive Reasoning to plan ahead for traffic on the freeway, because there is always traffic around that specific time. And Deductive reasoning to figure out what day my Chemistry final would be, because if I had lecture on Monday and Wednesday than the final would take place on Friday.

The types of reasoning are really useful and interesting. Definitely something that you use on a daily basis.

FAVORITE

This was my first online class, so I didn't really knew what to expect. It was a good experience to have, I might enroll in other online classes in the future. I didn't expect the class to have group assignments. Since it is an online class, people probably don't have that much time to begin with if they're taking an online course.
My favorite thing about this course was that it was online. So my schedule was a little bit more open due to this. It allowed me to do the work whenever I wanted.
My least favorite thing was probably the deadlines for stuff. Since it is an online class, I seem to forget about it some times. There is no real reminder for the work and deadlines.
This class can be improved by probably not having group assignments, if it's an online course. But I think the blogs are a good way to learn the concepts.

Overall the class was a good experience itself and the lessons of critical thinking was useful.

Things Learned

Over the whole courses of this semester, we learned a lot of different concepts. For me, when you put them all together, we learned how to build strong arguments. Which is very important in life. Because to me, life is just one big argument for you to fight. To build a strong argument, you must use different types of claims, reasoning, and appeals. Every aspect of life, is going to require a different aspect of claims, reasoning, or appeals. Knowing how to apply those concepts into your arguments, will provide you with a strong argument.  We also learned how to avoid bad arguments. What to and not to do when making an argument. When you know all the rights and wrongs, you will know how to build a good argument. So the one main thing, that I learned from this course was arguments. How to build them, how to analyze them, and how to counter them. Which will certainly be very helpful in life.

Interesting Concept from Chap15

Chapter fifteen was about cause and effect.  Cause and effect an be understood in the form of "B happened because A happened." A is the cause and B is the effect. We make a lot of cause and effect in our day lives. Like "There was traffic so I was late."

A concept mentioned in chapter fifteen was reversing cause and effect. Reversing a cause and effect is the incorrect way to do it. Reversing a cause an effect is when someone mistakenly think that the cause is caused by the effect when there is no back up support or evidence. There are other reasons that should be taken into consideration when evaluating a claim.
An example would be "I got in trouble that is why my parents got divorced." A lot of kids think that when their parents get divorced, it is because something that they did. But it is not exactly true. People get divorced for a lot of reasons.

Mission Critical

I found that the mission critical website was very useful on understanding arguments efficiently. The mission critical website discussed many of the various concepts we learned throughout the course. I thought it was a very good website to go to if you need help on a specific concept. They have information about arguments to appeals to fallacies. I found the section about fallacies very helpful. Since it is important to know how to build efficient arguments, it is important to understand all the different kind of fallacies. The website also offer helpful exercises to practice these different concepts. You can take the questions exams to help further expand your knowledge of these concepts. If you are having any kind of trouble, these exercises would be it easy to understand. Overall this website would help make your arguments stronger. There are a lot of good information and exercises. I would definitely recommend this website to anyone having trouble with arguments.

Cause & Effect Website

I thought that the cause and effect website reading and exercises was useful in many different ways. I found out and learned some useful information on casual arguments. A casual argument strengths comes from three different factors which are how acceptable the implied comparison is, how likely the the case for causation is, and how credible the significant difference is. Understanding these three factors would help with the concept. It is super important to know these three factors and how they work in an argument. You have to understand how acceptable the comparison is, the basic similarity has to be strong enough and realistic. Then question is the case, to see if the argument is likely. And then question the difference between the comparison.
The exercises were also useful because got to see these concepts from the reading implied to different situations. It always help when you get to use and see what you just learned in a situation or example.

Slippery Slope

I decided to discuss he concept of Slippery Slope for the concept that I have not yet discussed. Slippery slope is the concept that once one things happens than it would lead to series of other events in a chain reaction. Usually the events have no importance to the argument or main claim. I think that we hear a lot of slipper slope claims when we get lectured by our parents. Like if we start doing this bad thing, it will lead to this.
Slippery slope is the problem with most arguments and claims. Slippery Slope can be broken down to the form of "If A happens then B will happen." Most of time, A and B has nothing do with each other, which makes an argument weak. To fix this, you have to make sure that A ad B are relevant to each other and are not just jumping to conclusions.

Reasoning by Analogy

After reading through all the different type of reasoning and coming up with real world examples, I found that reasoning by analogy was the hardest to understand. The link that went to wikipedia, gave a definition but it was still more difficult to understand.
After researching reasoning by analogy online I found that basically reasoning by analogy is a statement of a logical statement comparing two similar items or objects.

Can be understood by summarizing it to the argument by analogy can be presented in the form of the equation "A is like B"
In reasoning by analogy, you have to find different and similar characteristics is shared between two or more objects. One with the distinct differences and similarities, you have to make a comparison. The similarities has to be strong enough to stand alone as premises. You then also have to find a principle that covers the two different sides.

Reasoning

Reasoning by Analogy
Premise one: Dustin likes to skateboard.
Premise two: Allen likes to skateboard.
Conclusion: Everyone likes to skateboard.

Sign Reasoning
Premise: The room filled with sunlight.
Conclusion: It must be morning.

Casual Reasoning
Premise one: Burger King closes at seven o'clock
Premise two: It is eight o'clock
Conclusion: Burger King is closed for the day.

Reasoning by Criteria
Example: Mandy is super girly and likes flowers. You should get her something with a floral print on it.

Reasoning by Example
Taylor is super talented with the guitar because she took lots of lessons. If you want to be good with an instrument like Taylor, you would have to practice.

Inductive Reasoning
Premise one: Christian goes jogging every morning.
Conclusion: Christian will go jogging tomorrow morning.

Deductive Reasoning
Premise one: All new employees has to report to the store for orientation on Thursday.
Premise two: Matthew is a new employee.
Conclusion: Matthew has to report to the store for orientation on Thursday.

Appeal to Vanity

One of the other types of Appeal to Emotion, was appeal to vanity. Appeal to vanity is basically appealing to beauty and the want for it. I think especially for young teenagers and adults this is a useful form of appeal to emotion. Appeal to vanity is widely found in materialistic ads for things like makeup and clothes. The ads would show the "beauty" that comes with a certain product, often implying the message: if you wear these clothes or if you wear these makeup then you can be beautiful. Vanity is a strong source of motivation in our generation. The need to fit in and look good  has a huge influence over young people. Peer pressure to be a certain type or look a certain way ha a huge role over choices. Appeal to Vanity has a huge impact on how our generation think and act. That's why those ads that appeal to vanity has such a strong impact on young people.

Objective 3

A lot of advertisements uses a range of the concept "appeal to emotion." By appealing to a certain emotion in a piece of advertisement, people can easier to persuade a certain way. Some advertisement uses the Appeal to fear, to persuade people to buy a certain product or to join a cause or belief. 

For example this ad appeals to fear.
http://www.stanford.edu/class/linguist34/advertisements/fear%20ads/pages/rogaine_jpg.htm
It's a Rogaine ad for men who want better fuller hair that will keep on growing. The ads appeal to fear by comparing the consumer to older men in their lives who lost their hair. This will scare the consumer into buying the product to avoid hair lost.
A lot of ads especially ones for consumer beauty products or medical ad campaign use the appeal to fear tactic. Because fear leaves the consumer with doubt and worry, they are more likely to buy into the product. Fear is a great motivation in advertisement as well as arguments.

APPEAL TO EMOTION

Appealing to emotion is a great way to add support to a claim or an argument. Appeal to emotion is basically something that brings up a certain emotion. Because emotions has a large play in reasoning. For example, a lot of advertisement ads appeal to the emotion of happiness and excitement. The ads usually uses upbeat music to draw you in and show that the product can bring you happiness. So the appeal to happiness can persuade someone to buy something. Happiness is just one of the types of appeal to emotions, others including appeal to fear or appeal to pity.
Appeal to pity, is the type that caught my attention the most. A lot of organization usually appeal to pity, as way to convince people to join a cause. PETA, uses a lot of ads and strong words in their website that would strike apply to appeal to pity. Pity can cause people to feel empathy and make it easier to persuade them a certain way.

LINE DRAWING FALLACY

I think that the Line Drawing Fallacy is a really important concept to fully understand. In any kind of argument, it is very important to get your point across in a clear manner. Your side of the argument has to be able to stand against the other side in a fully visible line. Some people make their argument weaker when they do not make a clear argument that draw a line against the opposing side. The Line Drawing Fallacy is a claim that is dismissed because it is unclear and pointless and is unable to draw a line in an argument. You must always be able to get your claim across in a clear and effective way. To fix the Line Drawing Fallacy, you have to include precise and detailed claims in your argument. With enough detail and support a claim can easily draw the line in an argument. The Line Drawing Fallacy is very important to understand because it is very crucial in an argument to draw your line.

http://www.class.uidaho.edu/mickelsen/Media%20Readings/Fallacies%20Handout.htm

www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/ct/ch06/glossary.htm

Group Assignment

I think the group assignments were useful even though this was an online class. For the two group assignments, we actually got to use the concepts we learned in class. We had to pick an editorial and analyze it. An editorial is an opinion piece so we go to see how they made their claims and arguments. For the second group assignment, we picked an organization and analyzed it. We analyze different techniques they used to get people to support their main claim.  Some of their techniques were using celebrity endorsements or appealing to ethos. I prefer the second assignment to the first. It was easier to see find the support and claims. These assignments were useful because we're actually seeing how the concepts would work outside of class in other peoples opinions. The second assignment helped me learned more about the organization we picked, PETA. The second time around we are also more comfortable with each other so the assignment worked out better.

Chapter eight

One thing I learned from chapter eight was general claims.
General claims are literally general. General claims are pretty much vague. A general claim can be stated and the actually meaning of the claim can be conceal and misinterpret. General claims can usually be found in advertisements, to make the product seem more beneficial to the consumer then it really is.

An example of a general claim would be "Tyler ate some of the cookies on the table."
This is a general claim because the word "some" can be interpreted in different amounts.

Another thing I learned from Chapter eight was precise generalities. "Precise generalities" is the opposite of general claims. Precise generalities are claims or statements that are more detailed.

An example of Precise generalities would be "Tyler ate four of the cookies on the table."
It is opposite of the general claim because it goes into more detail, describing the amount the person actually ate.

Raising Objections

In chapter 7, Raising Objections was one of the ways to counter an argument. To raise objections in an argument is to find claims against an argument. When you raise an objection, it counter with new claims by pointing out their weak premises or conclusion. Basically raising objections is simply pointing out claims against an already established argument.

If this was the argument:
"Britney Spears is such a bad role model for young teens because of her recent troubles with drugs and her bad image with the Media and public."
Then an example of raising objections would be "But Britney Spears in the recent months showed that you can conquer your trouble and get your game back. She is an excellent example of someone has troubles but has overcome them and promote a sense of self esteem in teens."

The argument is countered by raising objections. Because it raises objections to why the original argument is weak. The original argument states why Briney Spears is a weak role model because of her problems but in the counter claim, they show that her problems helped her become a good role model.

Chapter 7

One thing I learned in chapter 7 was Counter Arguments. A counter argument is an argument or claim against an already established argument. So basically it's the other side of the argument. If you disagree with an argument or claim, than you would want to establish a counter argument to debate it. One may want to have a counter argument because he or she may disagree with the argument. Counter argument can set off a chain reaction of counter arguments, with each side countering, like they do in a debate.

Another thing I learned in chapter 7 was ways to counter an argument. Since chapter 7 was all about counter arguments, there are different ways to counter an argument.  One of them is "Refuting Directly." Refuting directly is one of the easier way to counter an argument. This method is simply to find and point out problems with an argument. Like false premises or conclusions.

Chapter 7 was an interesting chapter. Since before we learned about building arguments. This Chapter was about countering them.

Chapter six

One thing I learned in chapter six was Compound Claims. A compound claim is a claim made up of multiple other claims. Basically a claim with two components. The two components claims can be connected with words like "or" or "and."
     An example would be "The movie had a real interesting plot and cool characters!"
This is a compound claim because it "compounded" that the movie had an interesting plot and cool characters.

Another thing I learned was contradictory of a claim. Contradicting claims are claims that contradict each other. Contradictory means like the opposite, so claims that have opposite meanings.
     An example would be "The movie had a real interesting plot but was really boring." It is contradicting because first it was stated that the movie had a interesting plot, but then it was stated that it was boring,


When using Compound Claims, it's important to use claims that do not contradict. If a compound claim has contradicting claims, it would make the claim ineffective.

Mistaking the argument and the person

Ever heard of the sayings "don't attack the messenger, attack the message" or "don't hate the player, hate the game?"  It's the same concept when it comes to judging an argument based on the arguer. People, when listening to an argument, often decides their sides based on the person presenting the argument. An argument should be based on it's premises and claims rather than basing it on the "messenger."

An example would be with celebrity endorsed advertisement and products. One may already form an opinion based on the celebrity in the piece of advertisement.
In the Proactive ads, they use a lot of celebrities ranging from Katy Perry to Justin Bieber to Avril Lavigne.
Someone might mistake the person for the argument because of their opinion on the celebrity. They might think that "oh celebrities have enough money to go out and buy more expensive and effective products than proactive."

Basically in mistaking the person for the argument is when someone focuses more on the person than the actual argument.

Advertising

This advertisement I chose is a commercial for Sony's TX7 cyber shot camera featuring Taylor Swift.
The commercial shows that this specific camera has the ability to take panorama pictures, so you can include a wide range of people or objects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhHMWLjL77U

You can either accept the claims of the commercial or you can reject it, based one personal experiences or other sources input. You might of tried the camera and find it difficult to use the special panorama function or found that the camera is amazing. You might also want it because one of your friend told you about how good or bad it is. Or even because of the person advertising it to you. Since Taylor Swift is the person advertising the camera, her fans might be inclined to buy the product.
Every advertisement is some sort of argument. This one has a conclusion is that you should buy the camera. Premises can be the fact that Taylor Swift uses it and that it has a new panorama function.

Repairing Arguments

The main reason for poor arguments is that the argument does not have the required premises. A premise is the support, that a argument needs.

An example would be "Miley Cyrus has a good voice. So Miley Cyrus should become a country singer."
There is a conclusion but there is no plausible premises to support the conclusion. To repair this argument, you can add "Miley Cyrus' voice has a rich country tone to it." Before it was just stated that she has a good voice, which is not really a supporting plausible premise for her to become a country singer. Just because she has a good voice does not mean she should be a country singer. Different voice suit different genres of music. Now with the new added premise, the conclusion is supported. Miley Cyrus should become a country singer because her voice has a rich country tone to it. The argument is now fixed because it has a plausible premise.

Mentor

We all heard of the word "mentor" before. A mentor is a person who acts as a force of influence like a role model. A mentor usually helps out a person with less experience a skills set. Mentors can be found in everyday life. At the work place, schools, or even at home.
There are four mentoring stages : initiation, cultivation, separation, and redefinition.
First is the initiation step, where the mentor and protege get introduced to one other. There should be a sense of keeping an open mind, ready to learn.
Second step is cultivation. Where the mentor  and protege get more  comfortable with one another and starts to bond, while maintaining a level of respect.
Third step is separation. Is just what it sounds like, it's when the mentor and the protege are separated from one another.
Final step is redefinition. It becomes accomplished when the mentoring is successful. The protege is now skilled and almost on the same level as the mentor.

I found this more interesting than useful. It reminded me of the leadership section, because leaders are in a sense also mentors.I just found the steps and stages really interesting. I never thought that much into the role  of a mentor.

Violating the Principle of Rational Discussion

A fallacy or fallacies, is a statement based on false claims. The book mentions several types of fallacies, including: the straw man, begging the question, shifting the burden proof, relevance, slanders, and ridicule. The straw man is a fallacy where someone criticize an augment by changing the "image"of the argument. The straw mans misrepresent an argument, giving it a different meaning. The main purpose is to create a different illusion to an argument, so the attacker can be distracted on the "straw man."

An example of the straw man fallacy would be:
Person 1: This album has a good rating because of the great track list of songs.
Person 2: The album is not good, just look at that bad album cover art.

This is an example of a straw man fallacy because it draws the attention away from the argument. The attention went from the "great track list of songs" to the "bad album cover." The fallacy created a false attention of argument.

ComplexArgument

1 neighbor should be forced to get rid of all the cars in his yard.
2 People do not like living next door to such a mess.
3 He never drives any of them.
4 They look old and beat up and leak oil all over the place.
5 It is bad for the neighborhood and it will decrease property values.

Yes this is an argument,they are arguing that the neighbor should remove cars from his yard. The conclusion is My neighbor should be forced to get rid of all the cars in his yard, which is supported by the claims. The four sub arguments for  the conclusion are sentences 2, 3, 4, and 5. The claims are strong but they are based mostly on opinions. "It is bad for the neighborhood and it will decrease property values," is the strongest claim. Additional premises could  be added, ones that reflect more upon facts not feelings and opinions. All of the claims/arguments support the conclusion.

This exercise was useful because it helped in learning how to break up an argument and analyze it. It also gave a clearer view on claims, valid premises, and conclusions. Knowing how to break down and argument and analyze, helps us in the future when writing our own arguments.

DEFINITIONS

A definition is what defines a word, what a word means. Each word has it's own intentions and meaning. So while having a conversation or an argument, it's important ti use the right words with the right definitions. Knowing the definition of strange words can expand your vocabulary. For every word,  there can be several definitions. If you take a look in the dictionary there can be multiple  definitions to define the word. It is a good idea to get a sense of the definition and use the word appropriately. The main role of the definition is to explain how to use a word. Knowing how to use a word will help you in arguments and writing stuff like essays. An argument that uses the wrong definition of a word will be considered a weak or false argument. Knowing the right definitions and the right ways to use the word would make the argument more effective and strong. I found the definition really useful, it's something that can help in all aspects of your daily life not just with arguments and writing.

Strong.Valid

Strong arguments is when the argument has strong believable premises but the conclusion may be false or hard to believe. So an argument with strong sources and support but with a false conclusion may be considered a strong argument. Where valid arguments are when the premises and the conclusion are both true. Valid arguments  can also be false, in that both the  premises and conclusion are false.

An example of a strong argument would be "Taylor has the flu. I spent the day with Taylor now I have the flu. I got the flu from Taylor." It is a strong argument because the premises are true and strong but the conclusion may be false. The person may or may not have gotten the flu from elsewhere.

An example  of a valid argument would be "The mall closes at 7PM on Mondays. Right now it's 8PM. The mall is currently closed." The Premises are all true and the conclusion is true, making it a valid argument.

2.1 Arguments

To be strong, an argument must have good premises. Premises are reasons that support the conclusion of the argument. There are three stated rules to follow when constructing an argument. The three requirements an argument must meet are: 1.) “The premises are plausible” 2.) “The premises are more plausible than the conclusion” and 3.) “If the argument is valid or strong.” 1.) Premises must be believe and realistic. Meaning people must buy into the reasons that you're selling. 2.) The conclusion can be false based on other's opinions. Meaning the conclusion is a subjective claim. 3.) The argument just has to be strong and supported.

An example would be: The concert will be rescheduled if it's raining. It's raining. The concert will be rescheduled.
The premises are plausible because if the it rains the concert would get reschedule and it's raining. The premises are realistic and there's no doubt about it. The argument is true because there's no doubt the concert is going to be rescheduled because it's fact that it's actually raining.

Line.Drawing.Fallacy

When making a statement in an argument or debate, a strong argument is always good to have. A fallacy is an mistake or error in delivering a clear message or reasoning. The "drawing the line" fallacy is an example of one of many fallacies. What is a line? A strong sharp concise edge. The line drawing fallacy uses false unclear statements or concepts to argue. If you can not provide a strong sharp line against an argument than the concept is considered invalid or false. In an argument, a point or idea should always be precise and clear. The line drawing fallacy basically is an argument with no clear message. When delivering an argument, the lines between the opposing sides of the argument should be clear. So when arguing, every statement should be precise to draw the lines between the opposing sides. To avoid the pitfalls of the line drawing fallacy, make sure your arguments are precise and evident enough to draw a boundary line of facts.

Vague.Sentence.

A vague sentence is a unclear sentence that can be interpreted in more than one way, when the speaker is unclear. A ambiguous sentence is a sentence that can be interpreted in very few ways.

An example of a vague sentence when my coworker at Hollister called for a stock check. He said "Can I get a stock check for the navy top please?" What came to my mind was "Which navy top was he talking about and what size?" There are multiple tops in the store that came in navy. Was it a shirt for Bettys or was it for Dudes? Was it the tank top by the windows or the the tank top in the back area. Or was it the navy cardigan or navy Polo's? The store is filled with navy tops. When asking for a stock check you have to be specific in style, size, and color. So there was no way to tell what he meant. If my coworker has asked for a stock check for the small navy cardigan than I would of known what to look for.

SUBJECTIVE.OBJECTIVE.

Subjective claim is more on the biased and opinionated side. Subjective claims are based on an individuals own feelings or opinions. A statement using judgment would be a subjective claim and is usually arguable. While objective claim is not opinionated, its more straight forward fact. Objective clams are based on facts and can not usually be argued.

An example of a subjective claim would be someone opinion or feelings towards something like a song or singer. My friend was like oh "Party in The USA" is such a bad song. That is a subjective claim because that is his opinion of the song. Someone else can argue that it is a really good song. I personally think it's a great song. Subjective claims in music usually have many sides and opinions. Music critics makes a lot of subjective “reviews” or claims because every critic has his own different response and feelings on a song or album.


An example of an objective claim would be when my friend claimed Taylor Swift's album Fearless was number 1 on the billboard for 11 nonconsecutive weeks. It's fact, you can't argue that its not true. It's not based on opinions or emotions, it is what can't be claimed as false.

INTRODUCTION.

Howdy y'all. I'm currently a sophomore, majoring in business marketing. I don't have much experience with "communications." This is my first online class ever. So I'm hoping that this online course would expand my class experiences. In my free time, you can usually find me sleeping or working. I love working, so I'm always trying to find new opportunities. I currently work two jobs, one at a yogurt store and the other at a Hollister store. I'm a person who always like to be busy. So keep me busy.

Till next time..