Question #3

One concept from throughout the semester that can use further discussion are fallacies. I learned that many arguments are bad because they require or use for repair false or dubious premise. I also learned that the argument is a fallacy only if the premise is dubious and no other premises support the conclusion. During one of the tests on fallacies, the examples were very confusing when you had to decide if it was “drawing the line”, “false dilemma”, “slippery slope”, or “bad appeal to authority”. There were a lot of other terms as well, but it became very confusing and hard to understand. On top of the fallacies, violating the principle of rational discussion was also a bit difficult to understand. There are slanters, ridicule, strawman and other terms you had to take into consideration as well. Overall, this information was just very overwhelming and I thought could use more explanation and help.

Question #2

1)   Critical thinking is extremely important because it is evaluating whether we should be convinced that some claim is true or some argument is good, as well as formulating good arguments. My favorite thing about this class was being able to learn about all of the different types of material when it comes to critical thinking. There are many ways to prove a certain argument, but there are also many ways that an argument can fail. I enjoyed learning about anologies as well. Reasoning by analogy taught me to compare one side of the conclusion. My least favorite thing about the class were all of the tests. The homework was easy to complete and understand, but the tests were extremely hard and I did not always do too great on them. They had a lot of trick questions and the examples were difficult as well. Even though it was open note and open book, I feel that the tests could be a little easier in order to improve the class.

Question #1

1)   This course has been extremely helpful and has enhanced my critical thinking skills in many ways. The most important thing that I learned throughout this semester was how to dissect an argument and determine whether or not the argument is strong or valid. It is important to know whether or not the reader is convinced of the subject and what makes a claim. I learned that a claim is a declaritive sentence used in such a way that it is either true or false (but not both). Claims are very important because it is either someone trying to convince you, you trying to convince someone else, or you trying to convince your own self. I also learned about arguments and the different types of arguments as well. The conclusion should always follow the premise in order to have a strong or valid argument. I also learned about the criteria for accepting and rejecting claims as well from personal experience and other sources. Overall, I learned a lot of useful information that I can use in the future and in my everyday life!

Mission Critical Website

I found the Mission Critical Website extremely useful! I really enjoyed reading all of the different information on parts of an argument, basic relations, and the analysis of arguments. Each part provided great tools to utilize when it comes to arguments. It was also great review on inductive and deductive reasoning. The exercises helped me understand the topics more clearly as well. In the past, fallacies have been difficult to understand, but it was a great review on all of the different appeals. There are misdirected appeals and emotional appeals as well. In a misdirected appeal it is misapplied by being used to support an unrelated claim. But, an emotional appeal is never a legitimate strategy in an argument. I also liked learning about identifiers. Identifiers are the function played in an argument. They are usually word or phrases and can either be premise identifiers or conclusion identifiers. The purpose of an argument is always to communicate the idea clearly and precisely. All of the information I read and the exercises for critical thinking. 

Chapter 15

I learned that there is a certain criteria for cause and effect in Chapter 15. There are six major steps that one should follow. First you should always remember that the cause happened and that the effect happened as well. The cause will always precede the effects in arguments and it is nearly imporssible for the cause to happen the effect not to happen given the normal conditions. It is important to also remember that the cause does make a difference because if the cause had not been true then the effect would not have happened and been proven true. The last rule that I learned about steps for cause and effect is that there is no common cause. I also learned in Chapter 15 that there are two mistakes in evaluation cause and effect. Most people tend to reverse the cause and effect and they also look too hard for a cause which can end in a bad argument. I found Chapter 15 very effective and useful in my learning. 

Cause and Effect Website

The Cause and Effect website was very useful because it provided detailed examples on casual arguments. To strengthen a casual argument I learned that there are three main factors that I need to follow. I have to figure out 1) how acceptable or demonstrable the implied comparison is, 2) how likely the case for causation seems to be, and 3) how credible the “only significant difference” or “only significant commonality” claim is. These three factors helped me in the practice exercises because they used examples where I would have to decide how significant each answer was.  The exercises focused a lot on deciding what answer had the most significant “commonality” or the most significant “difference”. I also learned that there are two main rules to remember when you are dealing with causations. The cause must always precede the event in time and even a strong correlation is insufficient to prove causation. The Cause and Effect website was a very interesting read and I learned a lot of new valuable information from the exercises as well. 

Reasoning by Criteria

Reasoning by Criteria 

One starts by defining the criteria by which the outcome of a decision will be judged. Then one identifies the best decision and evaluates it as well.