Interesting concept in chapter 15

In chapter 15, cause and effect there are a lot of interesting concepts that happening in the chapter. Before I read this chapter, I always think that cause and effect is something that is really simple and basic. Something that happen, cause another think to happen, just like chain reaction. For example, the light is not working may cause by a power failure in the neighborhood. However, there are a lot more to it than that. The light not working, there are other possible causes, not just one. The idea of cause and effect say that one should consider all the possible causes and than eliminate them out one by one. The last one that is left, is the cause. I think that this concept is really interesting because before I only see cause and effect as something simple, chain of reaction. Now I realize that there are a lot more to this concept than just a chain reaction.

Mission Critical

All the information in the mission critical website is really useful. The informations have been broken into categories, according to their subject matter. Each section went into depth and give more explanation. The format of the web is bullet points, which make it easy to find information and manage around the website. I think that it a way, the website make it easier to find information than the textbook, because we have everything broken down already. I also really the examples and exercises that the web use. I think that since it is interactive, it is easy to understand the concept and the points. I also like how the web will include other names that certain topic might be called on other websites or books. This make it easier to find more information about it. I think that my overall experience of the website is great. The website is definitely a really useful website for more information and another source to do research on, other than the textbook.

Cause and Effect Website

The cause and effect website is useful and insightful. I really how it first introduce the concept of something and also explain what it is and how it wok. After that, the concept got break down into little section and give more details about each little part. Than an example is use. The example is common situation that everyone can imagine and understand. The situation than get break down to little parts and see how the situation fit into the specific topic. For example, in causal argument, the example is just a common accident between vehicles and motorcycle. Than the argument get break down to the "one significant similarity or difference." I think that the way the example got break down to certain part and explain, make it easy to understand and see how it work. After the example, there are exercise questions that people can answer. The questions allow people to come up with the answer and if the answer is wrong, than it will explain why it is wrong. So I think that the website is really helpful, it makes the concept really clear and easy to understand. 

Interesting idea about reasoning by analog

The most useful kind of reasoning that I like to use a lot is reasoning by analogy. Like many people in different situation who like to make references and compare things even when they do not realize it themselves. I do compare things often. I think that stereotyping is also one example. Stereotyping might not make a good or strong argument but it can be use as some kind of reason (to certain people). For example, people may think that all dogs like to bark and cause bad odor inside the house. As the result, people always assume that if someone have indoor dogs, the house will smell bad and dirty. This can be a reason by analogy, one dog as a guideline and than compare other dogs to the guideline dogs. However, there can be other situation that reasoning by analogy can be very strong and convincing. I think that each situation is different and it depend on each situation if the reason by analogy will work or not. 

Reasoning by analogy

I think that the most difficult kind of reasoning to understand is reasoning by analogy, sometime it can be a bit confusing. The reasoning by analogy is just reasoning by comparing the two similar statements together. For example, "X is like Y." To understand or use the reasoning by analogy, one has to find the similarity between two  objects. Than state the purpose of two of the analogy, why is it important?  The reasoning by analogy can sometime be very vague and ambiguous. So, one have to exam the statement and comparison carefully to make sure that the comparison is strong.
For example: Dogs are mammals, they need food to live. Cats are mammals. So, cat need food to live.
This statement works. However, the statement is still very vague. It does not states what kind of food that the cats or the dogs eat. So, when the statement is very vague and ambiguous, it can become a weak argument.

Different Types of Reasoning

There are many types of reasoning. They can be reasoning by analogy, sign reasoning, causal reasoning, reasoning by criteria, reasoning by example, inductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning. So here are examples each reasoning methods.

Reasoning by analogy: Pepsi is a dog and Pepsi drink water.
                                  Soda is a dog.
                                  Soda drink water.

Sign reasoning: Mary did not answer her home phone as her phone is ringing, therefore Mary is not home.

Causal reasoning: Students who get A's in the art history courses have good understanding of art and its  history.

Reasoning by criteria: How will I know which book I want to read and will it be interesting? I can read the synopsis and the review for the book.

Reasoning by example: You should study harder. I met a guy who never study and have to repeat the class for 3 times.

Inductive reasoning: Everytime my phone ring, it means that someone is calling me.
                              Next time when someone is calling me, my phone will ring.

Deductive reasoning: All humans need water.
                               James is a human.
                               James needs water.

interesting appeal to emotion

For the interesting concept, I decided to discuss more of the appeal to emotion because I feel that is really important to understand how they are use in an argument to convince and manipulate people. One way that can be use to manipulate people is by appeal to pity. This method is used so many times when one wants other to help do something either for his/herself or for other things. For example, the animals shelter might talked about abused animals. The conditions that abused animals have to lived in and show pictures of injurred animals. Than the advertisement might said that you can help many abused animals by donating money and/or volunteer at an animal shelter. This is an example of appeal to pity. The advertisement make people feel sorry for the abused animals, so people will want to help these animals to improve their living conditions. I think that appeal to pity is used a lot. In many advertisement, they might not make a good argument because they usually lack the strong premises to help convince people. However, it is a good tool to manipulate people to do things.

Appeal to Fear In Advertisement

  "Do your allergies leave you in a fog?" This is the question that was ask in a Claritin commercial for the non-drowsy medicine. The main point of the medicine is that the medicine help to protect people with their allergies and allow them to follow their daily tasks. The commercial itself mention that when people have allergies, they are sneezing, watery eyes, itching, stuffy nose, ect. People feel like they lives in a life where there are always fog surrounded them. If they take some allergy medicine, they might feel drowsy and cannot manage their normal daily tasks. So, the concept of Claritin is to appeal to the fear that people have for being allergic to things and taking medicine that make them feel drowsy and/or tired. Claritin gives another option to the consumer. First, the medicine will help take care of the allergies, people will feel like their selves without allergies. Second, Claritin is a non-drowsy medication. People can continue on their daily life without any interruption.
  I think that the argument is good. The ad is not only talk about what allergies can do to someone or the side effect of medicines that make consumers drowsy. But the ad also talked about how Claritin can help and make a different. So I think that this is a good argument all around.

Appeal to Emotion

There are many kinds of appeal to the emotion. For example, there are appeal to pity, appealing to fear, appeal to spite, and appeal to vanity. The one appeal that stood out to me the most is appealing to fear. I think that this method of appeal get used so often by advertisers, marketers, and politicians. The appealing to fear is used to manipulate people by using fear as the main factor. For example, a commercial for a specific medication for women, might said that majority of women at certain age have this illness. The medication will help prevent this illness. That is an argument. The argument is that women should use that medication to prevent themselves from the illness. This commercial used the fear of people getting sick, and convince that women should take the medication to prevent the illness.
  I think that the appealing to fear is so interesting and intriguing at the same  time. Many of us might not realize that many things we buy or use are due to the use of appealing to fear by the advertisers or politicians. We install the security system into our home due to the fear that people might break in. So, I think appealing to fear is very important because it always surrounded us in our everyday life.