what i found interesting....

The part that i found to be the most interesting and helpful section in chapter 15 was the topic of causes and effects. I enjoyed the examples that the book used because it helped me understand what causes and effects exactly are. I also liked the fact that there were questions about the examples as well because it helped me understand the examples too. In chapter 15 i also enjoyed the fact that there were illustrations in the book that could help me and probably the whole class understand what the topics were in this chapter. I liked how the chapter offered so many examples about causes and effects because not everyone is very clear on what causes and effects are used for. The chapter helps people gain a better understanding about that certain topic. When the chapter covered how to look for the cause it amazed me a lot because it is obviously important to know what a cause and effect is and yet it is also important to learn how exactly you can look for the cause and that is why I thought it was very important and interesting.

cause and effect website

When I was going over the cause and effect website and exercises I found the two rules to remember in dealing with causation to be useful because it is important for everyone to know with different types of real life situations. I learned a lot from the two rules especially the second rule when it was stated that even a strong correlation is insufficient to prove causation. In a way at first I did not really understand what it meant, but after re reading it I slowly began to understand the significance of it and how important it is for us to know about. As for the exercises on the cause and effect website I found the fact that the answers to the exercise were on the bottom of the page. I am not saying that I just looked and the answers and answered them, but it was helpful because with every wrong answer I had I was able to see why I got it wrong in the first place.

What i found interesting...

One of the concepts in Chapter 10 that I found to be very interesting was the appeal to pity. As I mentioned in my earlier post before this one I said that the appeal to pity was the appeal to emotion that was the most striking to me. Not only was it the most striking appeal to me but it was the most interesting concept that I learned in the whole chapter. I found it to be very interesting because I realized that so many people use that appeal without even knowing it. Although it seems to be a bad appeal, it is very true. Doing something for someone just because you feel sorry for them is not a very polite thing to do. I would say doing that would make you fake. It is not fair for the people that do not know that you are only doing this just because you feel sorry for them and that you do not even want to do it. Overall, I learned a lot from this appeal and I am very happy that the chapter brought the concept up because now everyone can pay close attention to people who use appeal to pity in their everyday lives.

pg. 195 #1, 2, 3, 6.

1. Write a bad argument in favor of affirmative action whose only premises appeal to pity.

Jake and Kate’s house has recently burned down leaving them with nothing right now. When their family found out that their house burned down, each family member of theirs decided to put on a garage sale to some how raise money for them. Since their house burned down they lost a majority of their things including their money.

2. Find an advertisement that uses apple polishing. Is it a good argument?

It is a good argument because the advertisement about quick trim is telling us is convincing people that if you use it you will have 14 days to have a slimmer body. It may however be true, depending on how you decide to use it but I view it as a good argument.

http://kimkardashian.celebuzz.com/2010/01/special-quick-trim-discount-fo.php

3. Find an advertisement that uses an appeal to fear. Is it a good argument?

It is a good argument because in the advertisement they are promoting that if you go on freecreditreport.com you can get a free copy of your credit report in that same year. The advertisement also mentions that if you use their website you will be able to see if someone has been hacking into your credit card which is a good thing for people because you may really never know if your credit card has been hacked or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMXv0__CYSU

6. Give an example of an appeal to spite that invokes what someone believes. (Hint: Look at political speeches.) Is it a good argument? 

Janey: Hey, Jennie. Want to grab lunch with Kate and I?

Jennie: Yeah sure that sounds like fun.

Jennie: (Texting Sabrina that she is going to grab lunch with Kate and Janey.)

Sabrina: (Texts Jennie back and says Kate and Janey were saying bad things about you the other day.)

It is not a good argument because it is not even an argument in the first place. However, we can turn it into an argument by including the text messages between Jennie and Sabrina. There would have to be a premise to make it an argument and the perfect premise would be, “You should not hang out with people who have talked about you behind your back.”

Appeal to emotion

The idea of an appeal to emotion is that it is an argument that is a premise that basically says that you should believe or do something just because you feel a certain way. The type of appeal to emotion that strikes me the most is appeal to pity. Appeal to pity means that you are doing something just because you feel sorry for someone. The appeal strikes me the most out of all the other appeals because it is the type of appeal that a lot of people in our world use today. Even in small cases, people are still using the appeal to pity when they do not even know it. Sometimes big organizations even use it as well. Some organizations like Greek organizations use the appeal to pity all the time. In some cases they will want to do a fundraiser for their brothers or sisters just because they do not have the money to pay for their own dues. In reality some of the sisters or brothers who participate in the fundraiser do not even want to participate in the fundraiser but they only do it because they feel sorry for them.