Mission Critical

The Mission Critical website was very helpful because it works as a tool in review of the past semester.  The website goes over most of the topics that we have discussed in the book and also brought new topics.  The concept that I thought that was brought up and I saw as practical was vagueness and ambiguity.  These words can be difficult to understand, but I was able to clear the differences between these concepts.  It's difficult to understand because vagueness and ambiguity seem to have similar definitions.  Something that is vague is defined as something that is general, and unclear.  Something that is ambiguous has the ability to have a variety of different meanings. 


An example of vagueness is shown in this sentence:
That is a hot song
This is an example of vagueness because it is unclear that the song is actually hot in temperature, but in actuality it is hot as in a hit. It is used in a slang manner.


An example of ambiguity is shown in this sentence:
The grass is always greener on the other side.
This is an example of ambiguity because this can be interpreted in different ways. One, that the grass is a different shade of green on the other side. Two, there is always something better for you. It's all int he way you look at things.

Evaluating an Analogy

After learning the different types of reasonings, one of the concepts that stood out was reasoning by analogy. A part that was discussed in Epstein's chapter 12 was about how we go about evaluating these analogies.  Epstein gives us questions to use as a guideline when analyzing an analogy.  It is beneficial to us because it helps us in our critical thinking, making sure we are moving towards the right idea or actually comprehending the reasoning.  These are the steps/questions used to help as a guideline in evaluating analogies:
-Is this an argument? What is the conclusion?
-What is the comparison?
-What are the premises? (one or both sides of the comparison)

-What are the similarities

-Can we state the similarities as premises and find a general principle that covers the two sides?

-Does the general principle really apply to both sides? Do the differences matteR?

-Is the argument strong or valid? Is it good?

When encountering an analogy, we can easily analyze it and determine whether the analogy is a good argument or not by using these guideline questions. 

Reasoning by Criteria

Among all of the types of reasonings, I was having a hard time trying to comprehend the concept of Reasoning of Criteria.  I think that the main reason for my confusion is that I do not have a concrete idea of what criteria actually is.  When doing research on this concept, I made sure to look up the definition of the word "criteria", according to dictionary.com Criteria is "a standard of judgment or criticism; a rule or principle for evaluating or testing something. " Although I had the definition, I still did not understand the concept so I looked up the synonyms for it and came up with: standard, measure, basis. In my opinion, the concept of Reasoning by Criteria is making an argument based on established information, or maybe something simple like a fact. Having facts, these types of arguments are reasonable and valid which end up not being much of an argument anyway.

Types of Reasoning

Different types of reasoning allow us to have different kinds of effect on individuals with the way we reason. 

1. Reasoning by analogy draws conclusions from comparing similar things when it is part of an argument. If one thing is one way with the other thing, the same should be for objects of a similar relationship.
   Example: My sister goes homes early yet doesn't have a social life. I have a social life and still have to go home early.
2. Sign reasoning is similar to judging a book by its cover because it draws conclusions due to appearance or other indicators.
   Example: Bree didn't smile at me when I shook her hand; Bree doesn't like me. 
3. Causal reasoning uses cause and effect.
   Example: I got home from dance practice at 1:00am in the morning. I overslept and didn't make it to my 7:30am class. 
4. Reasoning by criteria uses established criteria for future conclusions.
   Example: Clothing made out of 100% cotton shrink all the time. I shouldn't machine dry 100% cotton clothes.
5. Reasoning by example uses other valid examples for arguments.
   Example: Lisa stretches for 15  minutes every night. She is more flexible now and is able to do the splits in gymnastics. Stretching helps a lot.
6. Inductive reasoning uses past observations to make conclusions or generalizations, with the probability that it is could be false.
   Example: Gasoline prices went up in the past few days. Gas prices will continue to rise. 
7. Deductive reasoning is the opposite of inductive reasoning in that it uses generalizations for specific claims.
   Example: If I practice, I will improve on my dancing skills. I practiced everyday, and did well in the dance audition.

Apple Polishing

Throughout chapter 10 in Epstein's book, we learned about the Appeal to Emotion and the different aspects that it is made up of.  One of the concepts that I thought was interesting was Apple Polishing, which is actually a particular way of using the Appeal to Vanity approach in arguments. Apple Polishing is a type of feel-good argument  in which a person uses flattery, and excessive compliments, in an attempt to win support for their side. In my opinion, this is not 'apple polishing', more like sucking up! An example of this approach in action is when a good-looking, handsom advertiser is selling a new dietary fiber bar or snack to an overweight woman.  The advertisement can butter the buyer up, telling them that they actually look slimmer and that their product will be beneficial to their amazing 'figure' and will keep them in shape, when in reality the product probably has a lot of sugar and what not and would not help the buyer's diet.  The overweight buyer will fall for this heartmelting advertiser and spend spend spend!

Exercise #3

When I think of the Appeal to Fear approach and how it is used through advertising, I automatically think about commercials about anti-smoking. I believe that these advertisements are very powerful and can grab the attention of any average smoker and possibly bring them to their senses; I mean that's what the advertisements are supposed to do right? I honestly say that every anit-smoking advertisement that I have ever seen has scared me and prevents me from ever starting to smoke cigarettes. In these advertisements, smokers are put into fear about dying early, getting a hole in their throat, having damaged lungs, second-handedly hurting the people they love or even strangers around them, being a victim of all sorts of cancers, and of course dying of an early age.

In this particular ad I found (1st picture), a baby is surrounded by the dangerous second-hand smoke that a loved one is creating around him.  This presents the harmful effects of smoking and that it can affect anyone, especially our little ones. This is a good argument because the premises and conlusion are true based on strong examples given.



Appeal to Pity

A concept that I learned about was Appeal to Emotion which according to Epstein is defined as a premise that says, roughly, you should believe or do something because you feel a certain way.  When actually breaking down the appeal to emotion into detail, we learn that are specific ways that are used to win people over with their emotions.  The particular aspect of appealing to emotion that drew my attention was Appeal to Pity.  When advertisers are trying to sell a product or trying to help a cause, they aim toward buyers' hearts; making sure that they have melted their hearts and that they feel so bad about the issue that they have to help.  These arguments are often presented through television advertisements.  An example of an advertisement using the approach of appealing to pity would be an ASPCA commerical.  In these commercials, they present pictures of abused, hurt, and battered animals who are in desperate need of help. Along with this advertisement, the song "Arms of an Angel" by Sarah mcLachlan is playing and she also speaks out for the cause.  Using this approach, animal lovers and pet owners feel so hurt and moved because of what they see; they have pity for these animals and no longer want to see domestic violence and decide to donate.