Cause-and-Effect Reasoning

According to the text, Dr. Novello was nominated to be U.S. Surgeon General. One of the four key health problems that Novello focused on as Surgeon General was reducing the causes of tobacco related health problems. According to the book, the number of teens and children who smoked had begun to increase in 1988 when Joe Camel ads for Camel cigarettes were introduced.
Dr. Novello took this information and used cause-and-effect reasoning to seek a solution to end the problem of smoking among children and teens. She did so by noting the cause: Joe Camel ads for Camel cigarettes introduced in 1988 led to the effect: The number of teens and children smoking increased dramatically. Dr. Novello used this information to find a solution to reduce the causes of health problems due to cigarettes by pushing for more education in schools, and also bans on cigarette and alcohol ads that targeted youth.

Effects of Question Wording on Responses

A concept in chapter 7 that I found interesting was the effects of question wording on responses. According to THINK by Judith A. Boss, bias may result from the way a question is worded (207). The book gave an example of a poll from 1980 for the National Abortion Rights Action league asking people’s views on amending the constitution to ban abortions. They asked the same question worded differently. The main difference between the questions was the use of ‘prohibiting abortions’ in one question and in the other ‘protecting the life of an unborn child.’ According to the book, 21% more people favored the amendment that when the use of ‘protecting the life of an unborn child’ was in the wording. The second question was an example of a slanted question which is written to elicit a certain response (207). This type of questioning worked because when it was asked in that manner more people agreed with the amendment. I thought this concept was interesting because there was such a big difference in favoritism by just using different wording and It’s crazy to me how such a simple change can make such a huge impact.

The Use of an Inductive Argument in the Past Week

Something happened recently that I didn’t want to keep to myself and felt the need to confide in a friend. While I have a lot of friends I feel that I can talk to about anything, there are certain issues that I don’t feel comfortable discussing with just anyone. This is mainly because I didn’t want anyone repeating what I was telling them. According to the text, if an argument is inductive, you should look for certain words that suggest that the conclusion probably, rather than necessarily follows the premise. The book goes on to say that these include words and phrases such as probably, most likely, chances are that it is reasonable to suppose that, we can expect that and it seems probable that. (203) I believe I used inductive reasoning when choosing who to call first in the following way. I thought; Trustworthy friends keep conversations private. I have confided in a particular friend before who has kept our conversation private. <<

Arguments Based on Mathematics

According to our text, THINK, by Judith A. Boss, an argument based on mathematics depends on a mathematical or geometrical calculation. This is a type of deductive reasoning and until seeing examples or reading about the definition I would have assumed I never used arguments based on mathematics. The text says that by knowing how to make arguments based on mathematics can help you make better informed decisions like calculating costs and finding the best cost-effective methods. (244)

The book gave an example about finding the size of a room based on measurements. Here’s a personal example of mine that I think fits with this type of argument;
My car has 86 miles until the gas tank is empty
San Jose State is 22 miles away from my house
Therefore, I can make the trip twice without running out of gas

I hope that example was right lol… I am constantly driving back and forth from home, to school, to work multiple times on some days so I’m always keeping an eye on my remaining mileage so I don’t run out!

The Death Penalty

Sister Helen Prejean maintains that the death penalty is a violation of human dignity and is contrary to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, “who taught us to not return hate for hate and evil for evil.” Based on the quote alone, I believe that this scriptural passage prohibits the usage of the death penalty because the death penalty is basically returning evil for evil and taking an eye for an eye.

Taking away someone’s life is evil.

The death penalty is taking away someone’s life as punishment for serious crime.

Therefore, the death penalty is evil.

Like the quote said, Jesus of Nazareth taught us to not return hate for hate and evil for evil. I tried to put the definition of the death penalty, as well as the fact that that taking away someone’s life is evil (based on what Jesus of Nazareth taught) into the form of syllogisms to make my point a valid deductive argument.

The Art of Reasoning

In the story “Silver Blaze” from our text, Sherlock Holmes tells Watson that when it comes to the art of reasoning many people rely on opinion and unsupported assumptions. The difficulty, he maintains is to detach the framework of undeniable fact from the embellishments of hearsay and reports.

I think what Sherlock Holmes meant by this was that you need valid proof to back up your reasoning. Going off of opinions and unsupported assumptions turns any type of reasoning into a game of telephone and the end result always gets messed up In the end.

I think this concept can be linked to many fights in relationships. I’d like to say I don’t listen to hearsay and rely on my opinion or unsupported assumptions when it comes to reasoning and that I usually go straight to the source before listening to others or crazy scenarios I’ve come up with by over thinking. That hasn’t always been the case though. For examples, a few years ago a good friend and a boyfriend of mine were planning something for my birthday and I saw a message come up on his phone from one of my girlfriends. I didn’t read it or anything; I just saw the name and ignored it. I immediately jumped to conclusions because that particular friend’s boyfriend wasn’t single when they first got together, and I immediately thought the worse. I consulted other friends about the situation which freaked me out even more. It was this huge ordeal and I began avoiding them both. When I finally asked my boyfriend about it he showed me the messages and told me what was going on (before my birthday which ruined the surprise). I felt like such an idiot for going off of unsupported assumptions and not detaching ‘framework of undeniable fact from the embellishments of hearsay and reports’ and not trusting two people who were the closest to me.

I know my example is way different than what Sherlock Holmes solved in our book but when I was trying to link it to a personal experience, that was the first thing that popped into my head =)