What have I learned?

I thing that I found to take most from this class was the different types of claims and arguments that make up critical thinking and communication.  For example, in the chapter counter arguments, I learned the right way to refute and argument directly and indirectly and how to reduce to the absurd.  This has allowed me to be able to fully speak to an argument when I think it is wrong.  This class has helped jump up my interpersonal communication with people along with giving me the tools neccessary to construct my own personal opinion.

Cause and Effect Website

On the cause and effect website, what I found to be most useful was how they broke down the explanations and definitions that are given by giving the example of the bike rider and the two car drivers in court after their accident occurred.  By it breaking it down with examples and showing how all the events had cause and effects on what happened gave me a better understanding than just straight textbook definitions did.  For example, when they broke down the ideas of the bicylce riders lawyer, it really showed the causation between activities.

Reasoning by Analogy

EXAMPLES
Reasoning by analogy:
If you don't study you will not pass.  Therefore, since you did not study this week, you will not pass.
Sign Reasoning:
Where there is fire, there is smoke nearby.
Casual Reasoning:
For the Lakers to be successful, Kobe Bryant will be the cause with his extremely talented skills.
Reasoning by Criteria:
How do you know what you have accomplished in life is worth while?  Lets discuss the criteria.
Reasoning by Example:
Do you study enough in school to help your grades?  My friend studies 25 hours a week and is a Straight A student.
Inductive:
The moon comes up everynight in the sky.  Therefore, the moon will come up tommorrow also.
Deductive:
Premise 1:  All sports are hard.
Premise 2:  Football is a sport.
Conclusion:  Therefore, football is hard.

Analogies in the Law

Here is a topic that was not discussed from the assigned reading that I found interesting.  It is Analogies in the Law.

Most analogies are not made explicit enough at the time to serve as good arguments.  However, in the law, analogies are presented as detailed and carefully anazlyzed arguments with the most important similarities pointed out and a general principle stated.
The laws are often vague and when situations arise that wouldn't have ever been covered by the law, similarites or difference have to be pointed out.
I found this interesting because judges have to follow previous rulings on the law to compare between whether something is illegal or legal.  This can sometimes be very hard for a judge because of the difficulty of how it falls under the law.

Appeal to Emotion

Emotions play a significant role in our reasoning.  We can't make good decisions if do not  consider their significance in our emotions in life.  But we also should not be swayed completely by our emotions.
An appeal to emotion in an argument is just a premise that says you should believe or do something because you feel a certain way.  We call the entire arument in which such a premise appears an appeal to emotion.

The emotion appeal to spite strikes me the most because it is the hope of revenge, it is invariably rejected as bad by some people on moral grouds.  It strikes me the most because alot of people act on spite in life before fully thinking out before acting.

2 Topics from Ch 6

1) Compound Claims and "or" claims
There are some words that can link two or more claims together to make a compound claim whose truth-value depends on the truth-values of the claims that are part of it.  An example of this is I'll keep your stereo from not being broken or I'll buy you a new one if it does get broken. 
A compound claim is a claim composed of other claims, but which has to be viewed as just one claim. 
Alternatives are the claims that are the parts of an or claim.  Even though there are many compounds, not every sentence with two or more claims is an compound like sentences with because in it.

2)The contradictory of a claim
It's easy to get confused about how to say a claim is false because they are made up of other claims.
The contradictory of a claim is one that has the opposite truth value in almost all possible circumstances.  Sometimes a contradictory is called the negation of a claim. 
Claim                                                                                    Contradictory
Jeff is writing.                                                                          Jeff isn't writing.
Cliff isn't a teacher.                                                                  Cliff is a teacher.
Max will go to the gym or he will go to sleep.                           Max won't go to the gym or to sleep.

Principle of Rational Discussion Example

The Principle of Rational Discussion principle is when we assume that the other person who is discussing the subject with us knows about the subject under discussion, is able and willing to reason well, and is not lying.

You're going to pay 50 dollars to go to the San Jose State University football game?  Didn't you realize that our team is the second worst team in college football?

Analysis:  Where is the argument in this statement? It is just to questions.
If you were the one in this argument, you would think that the speaker is trying to convince you not to buy a ticket to the football game.  The speaker is giving a reason why not to buy a ticket to the football game because they are so horrible.
The argument sounds quality but something is missing.  A glue statement could be inserted in there stating that you are just wasting your money because you are watching a bad brand of football.