Further concept/s

Although I believe that as a class and individually we spent quite a bit of time understanding and analyzing inductive and deductive arguments, I also thought that I could have learned these types of arguments a bit more. The difference between Inductive and deductive reasoning were clear, but when I put everything together it seemed to mess up my thinking. The arguments seemed to be less understandable, so I had to repeatedly go back to the boss text and try to understand the arguments over and over again. This concept didn’t need further discussion because the book explained it well. It did need more examples and exercises so that we could practice understanding the concepts. If we could have had a couple more examples of these types of arguments, I think I would have understood the concepts better. Although this is so, all the other concepts in the readings were quite understandable.

likes and dislikes

In this class my favorite thing was that I could speak to all the students without really knowing who they were. It was fun stating my opinions on their blogg because we could speak freely and with an open mind. I really liked that we could all do this and respect each other as well. One of the things I did not like was that sometimes I would like to ask students questions about the class and they wouldn't respond on time or even at all. I would really like to interact a little more with my classmates. Although I like that we can interact with one another anonymously, I do not like that it is hard to communicate with each other. One way to fix this is to maybe have the opportunity to meet once every so often as a class and still have our anonymous blogg online. Hopefully this helps. I enjoyed taking this course!

The Mission Critical and Causal Argument Websites

These websites were helpful. The Mission Critical website needs some work on its web page formatting but it provides good information on the basics, the analysis and information needed for arguments. I liked how the main topics had more sections that were specific to the topics as well. Although this formatting was nice and easy to use, it does need some improvement. Just as I mentioned earlier, the website needs to be improved with better features and quality designs. The casual argument site had a different focus that was a bit more out there. The page stated everything in detail so that the casual arguments could be explained better. Although I liked the page I would add more modern features to the website. When looking at both websites, I decided that I liked both the pages because they addressed information that any communications class should know. Although they can be improved, the website serves their purpose.

Incorrect conclusion

A couple months ago I met someone who seemed to be an extraordinary person. Her grades were great, she was very kind to everyone, many people were very fond of her, and she appeared to be the sweetest and most harmless person in the world. She never did anything wrong and I was very fooled by what she appeared to be. Unfortunately, I discovered a side of her that I would have never thought she had. I went over to her house to work on an assignment for class. She had previously told me to invite myself in when I arrived because she was going to be taking a shower and she wasn’t going to be able to open the door. Because of this, I tried coming 30 minutes earlier so that she would know I was there, but when I arrived she never opened the door. I invited myself in like she told me to do as originally planned. As I headed towards her room, I could hear her loudly speaking over the phone about how tired she was about faking the friendship she had made with my friends and I. What was worst was not that she was faking every single part of herself, but that she was doing it so that she could steel my friend’s boyfriend. She apparently was after him for a very long time. As she spoke to her mother, it seemed like her mother encouraged this behavior until it was possible for the girl to get what she wanted. I was shocked. I would have never thought this from someone in our circle of friends, especially her. This actually got me thinking that narcissist disorders actually exist. This behavior shows many attributes of this disorder and a couple other scientific finding on personality disorders as well.

daily horoscope

Although, I don’t really believe in predictions my horoscope was partially accurate. On Saturday April 28th, my horoscope said that the money I have been waiting for in the mail will come in due time and that I was not going to be able to do anything about it to speed up the process. This money will supposedly arrive shortly and then my financial difficulties will be resolved. I do admit that I have been short on cash for a while, for my savings have been gradually diminishing lately but, I have not been waiting for some money to arrive specifically in the mail or in some sort of envelope. This prediction is falsifiable because I can prove part of it wrong by using a counter example. Instead of waiting for money to come to me in the mail I can say I was really waiting to hear from a new job that I have applied for so that I can start earning money. Also, if I was able to somehow contact other employers and get a job faster, I could probably receive the money I need a lot faster than just sitting around waiting for it. One last event that would make this horoscope falsifiable would be receiving the money I need and still not getting out of my financial difficulties for a very long time. Even though I do not believe in predictions, hopefully I can get the money I need just how the horoscope predicted.

Sadler Vs. Hunt

Although it is true that some students have difficulties writing, the value of grades over rule the actual learning experience, plagiarism is unrecognizable for many student and that scholarly writing is much like plagiarism, we must never forget that we cannot take credit for something that is not our own work. I believe that Brook J. Sadler presents the best argument because she gives a clear stand to why plagiarism should not take place, why it isn’t fair, why student do not benefit from it, why it deceive others and the student committing plagiarism, and why it doesn’t benefit the student educational career. Sadler gives a solution to the plagiarism problem that makes sense and fallows guidelines as to what the argument that Russell Hunt provides does not. Russell only states four reasons as to why plagiarism is not bad and why helping student understand plagiarism is not helpful at all. These reasons are not sufficient enough to actually cover the whole subject. This is why I think that Sadler has the better argument.

Sadler Vs. Hunt

Although it is true that some students have difficulties writing, the value of grades over rule the actual learning experience, plagiarism is unrecognizable for many student and that scholarly writing is much like plagiarism, we must never forget that we cannot take credit for something that is not our own work. I believe that Brook J. Sadler presents the best argument because she gives a clear stand to why plagiarism should not take place, why it isn’t fair, why student do not benefit from it, why it deceive others and the student committing plagiarism, and why it doesn’t benefit the student educational career. Sadler gives a solution to the plagiarism problem that makes sense and fallows guidelines as to what the argument that Russell Hunt provides does not. Russell only states four reasons as to why plagiarism is not bad and why helping student understand plagiarism is not helpful at all. These reasons are not sufficient enough to actually cover the whole subject. This is why I think that Sadler has the better argument.

Interpreting Media Messages

In this week’s reading, I found that the concept used in order to interpret media messages were very interesting. After collecting all the facts that we need, we need to ask ourselves many questions. A couple of key thoughts that we should keep in mind are to know who created the message, what was the purpose of the message, what techniques were used in order to charm the reader’s interest, and what values and points of views were demonstrated. We must then ask ourselves our own thoughts on what we have read seen or heard from the media. This includes the reactions we had and how we interpreted the information. We also need to think about how others interpret the information being given, if the message is biased in any way shape or form and how the information might affect individuals and society as a whole. We must lastly understand how the information is being backed up, if it is credible, if it uses good facts and reasoning or if it does it at all. Fallowing these questions will enable us to interpret media messages in a better manner.

Media and our views

In today's world the media makes a huge impact in our lives. I think that without it, many of us who are use to such luxuries will not be able to manage our lives with ease. Because I have access to news all over the world with the internet, television, magazines, and news papers, I can easily find out what is going on around the world, around my neighborhood, school, family and friends. The media does inform us about everything we know, but it also influences our views on many subjects. We can only interpret this information given to us by the amount of information and stand that the media provides us. Although this is so, I believe that we should try to interpret what we are giving with our own views and values. The media challenges us because we must learn to interpret the difference between what the media wants us to think and believe and what we really think and believe on our own. We are given many views that expand our thinking and our views, but it is up to us to decide what we want to take in.

Advertising food?

Although both Wootan and Liodice make great arguments, I believe that Liodice has the better stand. Making good and healthy choices can not be enforced by anyone and they certainly can not be manipulated by law enforcement. Nutrition is extremely important, especially for kids, but parents have to enforce rules on what their kids eat. We all know that advertisements pray on everyone, and knowing that kids are the ones that are most easily influenced, parents should educate their kids on what they are advertised. It is the parents responsibility to educate and enforce rules on their children so that they can understand the nutritional content of the foods they eat. The choice on what an individual feeds him or her self is within the individual. Children should come to understand that at a young age because of all the influential media around us. This does not mean that I support faulty and misleading advertisement directed to children, but I do realize that we all have the right to freedom of speech,which includes McDonald's and other fast food restaurants. The one thing that I do agree with in Wootan's argument is that the fast food industry should make the public aware of what they are eating, at least just as much as they advertise it.

Advertisement

This week one of the concepts that I found interesting was how to evaluate advertisements. When I read this section I didn't expect to find so many different tactics in approaching this concept. To my surprise, I came to realize that a lot of ads give faulty and week arguments. Many are missing key facts or statistics that misrepresent the advertisement being given. This generally means that not all the premises are given for the argument at hand. Some advertisements use scare tactics, which pry on fear,emotions, shame, and insecurities to get their point across. Other advertisements use fallacies of popular appeal which pry on what everyone likes. Other ads pry on fallacies of questionable causes by making something look more wonderful than what it really is. There are many fallacies that can be used to misrepresent advertisements. Before we draw any conclusions from ads presented to us we need to understand all the premises that are given and hidden so that we do not make faulty assumption by something that is commercialized to us.

Consumer strategies

During this past week, I have used several consumer strategies that have been effective and non-effective as a consumer. On Monday, I bought a laptop online and compared the prices for the laptops with the help of a friend. When doing this, I used the opportunities available, such as the Internet, to my advantage. I also compared the competitors and consulted the consumers’ dissatisfaction’s in order to figure out what would be my best buy. Just yesterday I bought the new android razor maxx and compared and contrasted all the other phones that were available to the phone. The only weakness that I had was the lack of expertise from my part as a consumer for laptops and 4G phones. The truth is I don’t know much about these subjects even though I should understand more about the capability of the device I am purchasing. If I managed to do this I could reach more effective consumer strategies when purchasing laptops and smart phones.

Evaluating Evidence

When evidence is evaluated people need to understand the difference between valid and invalid evidence. Our brains interpret rather than directly record sensory experience. Sometimes people can see things that never happened just because they have been told or suggested that situations have happened. This is called false memory syndrome. When using different word choices and tones, language can alter memories. Anecdotal Evidence from eyewitnesses or memories being recalled should be questioned because of this. Memory can be inaccurate distorted or changed. Also, hearsay should always be questioned. Hearsay is evidence heard by one person and then repeated to another. This evidence is untrustworthy because you can never be sure if the evidence being presented has not been changed.When evidence is being evaluated the number one thing that some should keep in mind is how credible the source they are receiving their information from is. experts can be a good source credible information, even they can have their credibility question.

UFO

In the arguments written by Condon, hynek, and Paynter regarding the existence of UFOs,they all try to explain is some way that UFO research should be done but improved. Edward U. Condon states in his report "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects" that although they think that two years of studying this matter has not be used wisely and should not be continued because of this, anyone who is truly able to come up with a clearly defined proposal for this matter should be supported. J. Allen Hyner explains in his writting "The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry" that a program should be defined as a legitimate study because there has been many citings of UFOs. In the writting "physical Evidence and Unidentified Flying Objects", Royston Paynter states that the UFOlogical community should use better and standarized forms of investigation and proof of their work. I believe that Condon makes the best argument because he understand that money should not wasted on somethng if people are not fully prepared to do the right type of work for the job. By statting that this is an important matter that should be standarized he understands how much should be put in to the work.

knowledge vs. Wisdom

Knowledge and wisdom are two forms of learning. Knowledge, on one hand, is information or experience that we know is true because of evidence or means of justification. Wisdom on the other hand is being able to differentiate right from wrong through past experiences or understandings. Wisdom is also acquiring a wide range of knowledge altogether. Although they are both forms of receiving and understanding information, it does not mean that just because someone has knowledge they also have wisdom. In college, I believe that we acquire knowledge everyday, but wisdom takes time and thought to attain. By the end of someone’s college experience, I would say that they could then give some wisdom back to someone that needed it. The conclusion of Understanding something and fully experiencing something permits someone to understand and attain wisdom. The information age that we live in today has definitely made us more knowledgeable, but I do not believe it has made all of us any wiser. Sometimes people do not understand that not all knowledge should be taken advantage of. People tend to forget about virtues and differences between right and wrong.

Evaluating definitions

Five critical criteria’s should be used when evaluating a definition. First, you must understand that a good and well-written definition should not be too broad or too narrow. If a definition includes too many other things that can fit the description, than it is too broad. If a definition leaves out possible descriptions that apply to the term being defined, than it is too narrow. Secondly, the definition should include the fundamental characteristics of the term being defined. A good definition also does not use the word or variation of the word in order to define the word. Doing this is using a circular definition. Fourthly, a good definition does not use figurative language and neither does it make it difficult to understand. Figurative language does not adequately define a term because it broadens things up and leaves question on to what the term can be. If a definition is to obscure it only makes sense to professionals in the field, leaving the rest of the readers puzzled and confused. Lastly, a good definition does not use emotive language. Emotive language only provokes emotion on the reader rather than give meaning to the issue being addressed. I thought this was interesting because I learned that by understanding how to evaluate definition I can communicate my thoughts to others even better.

Rhetorical Devices

Rhetorical devices are a form of language that uses persuasion in the psychological form to convince or change someone’s mind or opinion. In the past week I have used a couple rhetorical devises without really thinking about them. I mostly use to main types of rhetorical devices to convince my boyfriend of things I want to do. These are Sarcasm and euphemism. Last week, I was being sarcastic about how hungry I was and we went out to eat my favorite food because of it. I always try to sweeten things up with him as well, which is really what an euphemism device is all about. Euphemism devices use positive or neutral terms in place of negative ones to sugar coat the truth. Just yesterday night I wanted to buy tickets to a concert so I told him that as long as he came along everything would be fine and nothing bad would happen to me. As I was speaking to him, I also replaced the negative things that come with any concert with words that demonstrate that things are not always so corrupt and malicious as they seem to be. These are just ways that I have used rhetorical devices in the past.

critical thinking skills

Ride exemplifies the qualities of a good critical thinker in many ways. He expresses these skills with precise and correct words for every sentence written. He also makes every critical thinking skill flow with one another.The way she wrote everything is consistent and understandable. It’s not just about listing skills, but about making them clear and concise enough so that everyone can understand them. Ride exemplifies that listening, speaking and writing skills are important for all types of communications with one another. Sally Ride understands that these communication skills would work not only in the business field but also in every other field and job out there. It is important to understand these skills and use them in an everyday basis to have good success in life.

Reasoning

In this week’s reading, I thought that learning about reason was very interesting. It is said that reasoning is what separates humans from animals (Boss, 2012). When you use reason you are supporting a claim or conclusion with evidence. In order to use reason you must use problem solving skills. Critical thinking skills and logic are necessary to use reasoning as well. With reason we can form judgments of many situations and decisions that we need to do in everyday life. Reason embraces different strategies such as deduction, generalization and imagination. When reason is used, it is used to make sense of things, validate facts and to defend what is questioned. Reason is considered to be an ultimate characteristic of a person and it is in our nature to use reason in every situation we are in. Reason is also referred to as rationality. Reason can come to us in any shape or form. Although reason is mostly viewed as a conscious activity, today many scientists are finding that reasoning is almost always done automatically and unconsciously.

Concept from reading

In today’s world there is a big
need for organized communication. People
need to understand how people communicate or send messages. Seeing the big
picture when communicating with others is crucial for success. Many messages
have been lost because communications amongst people have not been clearly
organized. When using an organizational system, no one can work alone or in
isolation. As a whole, the system must work together to get things done. There must also be good relationships overall
for a team to persevere in their duties. The relationship between the superiors and the
subordinates must be good enough to keep a work related conversation in
organization. Team leaders and team
members should actually work together in order to come up with a solution to
the problems that the team has. Communication
channels should always be used as well. This means that even though someone may
be just the director of a simple task, they should try and expand a relationship
and communicate their thoughts to employees higher up in the company. Negotiating
effectively, mentoring team members, and mastering communication with
technology is also key to good organized communication.

Inductive Argument

Just this past week, Valentines Day arrived. I simply did not know what to get my boyfriend for valentines. 1.) I was going to give my boyfriend a cute little teddy bear, but it just did not seem enough. 2.) I heard that you could not go wrong when you give guys something that comes from the heart and something that’s nice as well. Nicky shoes classified as nice in my boyfriends perspective, 3.) so I decided to get him both the Nicky shoes and the teddy bear. My boyfriend most likely preferred to get both the Nicky’s shoes and the teddy bear instead of just the teddy bear. Part one and two are the dependent premises. Part three is the Conclusion. This is an inductive argument because the conclusion indicated that it was most likely true. In contrary to deductive arguments, which have conclusions unavoidably fallow the premises, inductive arguments only claim that the conclusion probably fallow the premises.

Decision Making

I always thought that all members of a team or group should show leadership of some sort. Everyone should have direction and influence. Shared leadership makes a group stand out and persevere throughout all of its tasks. All members should help accomplish the desired outcome of the team, make themselves credible with the team, and inspire and motivate their group members. Members should also know how to carry out a decision as team. To do this there is an eight step process. First a problem must be identified. Second, research should be conducted. Third, criteria and guidelines should be be established. Fourth, alternatives must be generated, somewhat like brainstorming solutions and possibilities. Fifth, these alternatives should be evaluated. Sixth, there must be a selection of the best alternatives. Seventh,the best solution should be submitted to a higher power or authority. Lastly, the results should be evaluated as a group. These eight steps result in great decision making.

Death Penalty

If the last statement were proven statistically, then this argument would be valid. Whether or not the two previous premises are dependent of each other, the conclusion would be true. If the last statement is just a random statement, then the two previous premises proves that the conclusion is invalid. Also, if one of the premises is false then that makes the conclusion false. In this case, since both the premises are true, the conclusion would also have to be true. Although this passage states that the death penalty is wrong in the eyes of Sister Helen, it does not state that usage of the death penalty is prohibited. Basically, the passage is saying that A and B are true, and that B could be false, so B can be true or false, (more likely false). In the end, the passage just states that Christians are more likely to support the death penalty, not necessarily, that it prohibits the usage of the death penalty. It can actually mean the contrary. If more Christians support the death penalty, less people want to prohibit the usage of it.

Sherlock Holmes

I think that Sherlock Holmes thought that the most difficult part about reasoning was separating the truth from the lies. If deductive reasoning is used, someone can eliminate answers that are not possible or are untrue. Holmes might have thought that it was easier for people to assume what others thought or said instead of looking at the real facts and evidence that was out there. If we all listened to rumors and did not think for ourselves the truth would never be uncovered. Human beings will always lie to cover up any story that affects them. If we do not question what we might think is true then the real truth might always stay hidden. In the case of the “murder” of the Horses trainer, Holmes used deductive reasoning to bring out an unthinkable truth. It turns out that instead of being murdered by someone else; the trainer was killed by his own horse. If Holmes had not thought of all the possible situations that could have happened but didn’t, he would have never gotten to the real truth.

Evaluating Arguments

In order to evaluate an argument you must determine the clarity, credibility, relevance, completeness and soundness of the argument. To understand the clarity of an argument you must ask yourself if the argument is clear and definite. To determine the credibility of an argument you must ask yourself if there is evidence that supports the argument made. In order to figure out if an argument has relevance to the subject you must understand how the stand of the subject flows into the conclusion of the argument. To make sure that the argument has completeness you must determine if every point is made and well argued. Lastly, in order to determine the soundness of an argument, one must determine if the grounds of the argument are true and if they support the closing statement. If these five steps are used, anyone can break down and diagram arguments, making it possible to evaluate them.

#2 Discussion

I remember once getting into an argument with my friends over my brother’s way of being. My brother seems to be a normal and active kid at first sight but, when you get to know him a little closer, it is obvious that there is something very special about him. I did many things for my brother that got in the way of many girls’ nights out with my friends. After a while, my friends argued that my brother could do things for himself and that he did not need much help, but they never realized how his mind worked things out in his head. As his sister, I knew how he thought, and I knew what he struggled with. I understood that my friends could not realize what my brother and I have gone through, so I was determined to make them realize why my brother needed so much care and attention. It took a couple months to finally show them proof and explained everything that my brother went through and needed, but in the end, I did not give in.

Obama's position on same sex marriage

Same sex marriage has been a very touchy and confusing position to understand for some time now. As time has passed, freedom of speech and religion has become an important part of an individual’s right in the United States. Many people believe that under their religion, God has created this world for the idealized man and women matrimony. At the same time, these people are torn between an individual’s freedom of choice and their own religious beliefs. Although Barak Obama is the president of the United States, he still deserves to have his own position on same sex marriage. Barak Obama and every other individual out there have their own reason for their stand in a position, as they should being in a free country. It very hard to always fully agree with one position, so exceptions are made in an individuals mind under different circumstances. This still means that even if Obama opposes same sex marriage, as the president of a free and democratic nation, he must support freedom of speech for the citizens of the United States.
In response to Nava and Dawidoff's argument, Obama might just support the cause but not involve his own views on the subject.