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.