Slippery Slope Arguments Chapter 6

I decided to talk about Slippery slope arguments.  This was interesting to me because it was kind of funny in a way, and it kind of relates to what happens in real life.  In the book it defines a slippery slope argument as a bad argument that uses a chain of conditionals, at least one of which is false or dubious.  An example that really caught my eye was the one about the football player (Chapter 6, Pg.133, Section B)  I can relate to this because this is what people actually think what will happen if you date a football player.  There are many assumptions that usually are not true.  For example, Zoe says "You'll get pregnant. And you'll marry the guy. But those guys are such jerks…"  This is some of the many assumptions people have about football players that may not be true.  Basically a slippery slope argument is an argument using false assumptions to convince the person to change their mind.

Chapter 7 Raising Objections

In chapter 7 I read about raising objections, I picked this because I felt like we use objections in an argument in our everyday life.  Basically in the book it explains that  raising objections is a standard way to show that an argument is bad.  An objection is defined as a reason or argument offered in disagreement, opposition, refusal, or disapproval.  This means that a raising objection has various objections that go against the answer.  An example of this would be: 

Joe: We might as well get rid of that TV.

Kim: Person Why? we can just put it in the guest room. (Objection)

Joe: But It will just take up space. (Answer)

Kim: We can arrange the room to where it fits. (Objection)

Joe: That will be too much work (Answer)

This relates to real life because these kinds of situations happen everyday. 

Chapter 6 (False Dilemmas)

In Chapter 6, I read about False Dilemmas.  I found this useful because I felt as if I needed to get some extra information on this fallacy.  I was a little unclear about this before I read it.  In the book it says that a False Dilemma "Is a bad use of excluding possibilities where the "or" claim is false or implausible."  For example in the book they used an example of a husband and wife, arguing over cigars.  She tells him that he either gets rid of the expensive cigars or she'll have to get rid of the dog.  She made a valid argument but it wasn't a good one because he basically had no choice. Obviously they were not going to get rid of the dog so it had to be the cigars.
Another personal example of a False Dilemma would be:


Dad: We'll have to cut down on grocery shopping this month.

Mom: Why?

Dad: Well, either we cut the grocery shopping or we will not pay for the cable bill, and we cant live without cable.


This applies to everyday life because this kinds of things happen where you don't really have a choice, but you give a choice anyway, that you know wont happen.

Chapter 4. B) The Principle Of Rational Discussion

I chose to write about this section in Chapter 4 because it was pretty interesting to me.  First it talks about how we assume that the other person who is dicussing with us or whose arguments we are reading is sussposed to know about the subject, they are able and willing to reason well, and they are not lying.   One example that I found interesting was how they talked about the "lying" section (Pg. 60 "Condition 3").  It talks about if you find somebody continuously lying their is not point with reasoning with them because they are just going to keep telling lies.
There were two other conditions that were also discussed in this chapter.  At the end of the chapter it explains what "The mark of irrationality" is.  The mark of irrationality is if you recognize that an argument is good, then it is irrational not to accept the conclusion.

Advertiment blog. Question 2

I found an advertisement on Facebook for the relief fund in Alabama. I was unable to upload the picture on this post. Alabama recently had a tragic tornado incident, leaving many people without there homes. This was a relief fund made by the red cross. On the poster, there was a picture of a Red Cross worker hugging an Alabama resident looking very sad. Under that was "You can help, Donate here." I put this advertisement up because it is real and there is proof. The advertisement is chapter 5, Section C. was obviously a scam because there was no trace of it on the Internet.

On facebook, below the Red Cross relief fund poster, there was this comment by the person who uploaded it. "This flyer is proof that proceeds are going to Red Cross... If you have any questions, the contact info is on the bottom of the flyer! :)"  This is proof that the advertisement is real, so people will feel safe giving their money to something that is worth it.

Content Fallacies

After reading the section Content Fallacies in Chapter 11, I decided to talk about the fallacy "Appeal to emotion".  I picked this one because I believe it was easy to understand.  Appeal to emotion means to decide on a certain subject, due to your emotions.  This is a fallacy because the conclusion is not always true.  For example, certain diet food companies try to win people over by saying they will lose 20 pounds if they eat and drink their products.  They will also add that everyone will be attracted to you, and if your a man, women will be constantly staring at you (Vice Versa).  This will cause people to be persuaded by their emotions, and what they feel. 
Another example of "Appeal to emotion" fallacy might be "The new Apple MacBook Pro laptop gives you the power you need. If you buy one, people will envy you. They will look up to you and wish they were just like you."  By saying this, it may persuade people to buy the laptop even though what the company said may not be true.

The test for an Argument to be good (Chapter 3)

There was a lot of interesting information in this weeks reading.  I chose to talk about the argument section because I believe it is important to know what a good or bad argument is.  As people, we face arguments with other people everyday and it is important to know if our arguments are even good.  In the chapter it states "Test for an argument to be good"  The three bullets are; The premises are plausible, The premises are more plausible than the conclusion, and the argument is either valid or strong.  If an argument doesn't have any of these factors, then it is most likely NOT worth arguing about.  Every good argument is either valid or strong.

After reading this chapter I learned more about arguments, and the proper way to state a valid argument.  I can also tell if somebody is giving an invalid or a weak argument.  This was definitley the most interesting chapter.

Valid Versus Strong Arguments

A valid argument is always completley true.  With valid arguments there is never a false conclusion about the subject.  On the other hand, a strong argument can be proven false with clear evidence.

An example of a valid argument would be "In the game of Basketball, there should always 5 players on the court for each team"  This is a valid argument because there are always 5 players on the court for each team.  This cannot be argued because it is a valid fact.

An example of a strong argument would be saying "All students who graduate high school, should go to college"  Although this is a strong argument, not all students go to college.  There may be a financial issue or they just might not feel like pursuing the next level of education.

Basically, a valid argument is always 100% true, and a strong argument may be true, but it can be proven false.

Subjective and Objective Claims

A subjective claim, is an opinion someone may have or their personal beliefs on a certain subject.  Subjective claims cannot be proved right or wrong.  Objective claims on the other hand can be proven right or wrong.  Objective claim is usually something that is either true or false.  An example that I have heard of a subjective claim was "Kobe Bryant is better than Lebron James"  This statement cannot be proven true or false.  Many people have their own opinions and beliefs on each player.  There is not any proven evidence that one player is better than the other.  If a person states a specific stat of one of the players, for example "Lebron scored 40 points against the Lakers."  This would be a fact because it actually happend.  This leads into an example of an objective claim.  Another example of an objective claim may be "The president of the United States is Barack Obama"  This is an objective claim because it is a proven fact that he is our president.  In basic terms, Subjective cannot be proven true or false, and Objective is a proven fact.

Introduction Sean Linton

Hi my name is Sean.  Im a sophmore here at San Jose St, and I also play for the football team. I was born in Rochester, New York and moved to San Diego when I was three years old.  Other than Football some of my interest are, hanging out with my friends, watching tv, listening to music, and playing xbox.  My major used to be Business Management, but I decided to switch to Communications.  I feel like communications will be a good major for me because there is a very broad range of careers you can enter with Communications. Thats pretty much it about me. Im looking forward to reading other student's blogs this summer session.