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.