Interesting

Chapter 19: Cause and Effect, was useful with the examples given and detailed explanations.  However, I do not find cause and effect to be a difficult concept to understand.  Something that I found helpful, though, was the Criteria for cause and effect box on page 307.  Epstein explains, “There are certain necessary conditions for there to be cause and effect, once we describe the cause and effect with claims” (pg. 307).  The box explains the necessary criteria for something to be considered cause and effect.  A few of the criteria were: the cause precedes the effect, there is no common cause, it is nearly impossible for the cause to happen and the effect not to happen.  I thought that these points were very helpful when trying to determine if a statement is a true cause and effect.  Some of these points are obvious when determining the validity of cause and effect, but they really make idea of a true cause and effect a lot easier to understand.

Cause and Effect Website

I actually really liked the cause and effect website and found it extremely useful.  It was very easy to learn from and gave really good examples.  I find that cause and effect is used widely on a daily basis and a lot in people’s arguments.  The website was very interactive and interesting whereas the book seems to be just the same reading and can get quite boring.  It was good to change things up and learn from an interactive website because I found that I actually paid more attention.  Cause and effect is something that we all have been learning since grades school so it was not really something that needed much further explanation.  Another thing I found interesting about the website was the website showed more examples of real life situations where as the book normally just shows simple examples that do not always relate to our everyday lives.

Causal Reasoning

I thought that causal reasoning was interesting and could be a little difficult to understand.  However, once it is understood I think it is a very basic type of reasoning.  This reasoning is used when someone wants to show that “A” caused a certain effect or conclusion.  Many people do not realize how often we use this type of reasoning on a daily basis and consistently in conversations.  When making a cause and effect statement, we do not always use the word cause.  http://faculty.uncfsu.edu/jyoung/causal_arguments.htm

I thought this website really helped a lot because it gives examples and definitions of causal claims and arguments.  An example of a causal claim would be “Smoking causes cancer.”  Even though this is a simple example I believe that it helps those who do not understand causal claims.  In this example it is saying that when people smoke it can give them cancer.  In order to judge these types of claims as either true or false one has to think logically and can often determine the conclusion.

Reasoning Examples

*Reasoning by Analogy:  This type of reasoning is another form of inductive reasoning in which you compare two things that are logically similar.

            Example: Premise 1-  Alcohol is legal.

                            Premise 2-  Tobacco is legal.

                            Conclusion-  Marijuana should be legal.

This was an example from the book on page 253, but I thought it was a really good example because it relates to our lives today in that people were trying to legalize marijuana in California.

*Sign Reasoning:  An argument by sign declares two or more things are so closely related that the absence or presence of one indicates the presence or absence of the other(s).

            Example:  A footprint in the snow is a sign or indication that someone has just recently walked by.

*Causal Reasoning:  When we have reason to believe that the events of one occasion are related to the events of some other occasion. This is cause and effect.

            Example:  The house burned down because someone lit a match.

*Reasoning by Criteria:  You spend a lot of time using examples and evidence trying to explain why your reasoning is valid.

            Example:  If I wanted to go out to a party I would spend a lot of time explaining to my parents how much fun it would be and how many new people I would meet since I just recently moved from a different state.

*Reasoning by Example:  Giving examples in an argument.

            Example:  Me-“Mom can I drive over to my friends house?” Mom-“No because it is late and there are too many drunk and crazy drivers out on the road at this time of night.”

*Inductive Reasoning:  This type of reasoning uses our own past examples, observations, and sometimes experiences. 

            Example:  I had a horrible time in Wisconsin.  Therefore, I will probably never go back based on my past experiences there.

*Deductive Reasoning:  Where one believes that the premise is true, therefore the conclusion itself must also be true.

            Example:  You can not purchase cigarettes in the United States unless you are 18.

                        My brother is 18, so therefore he can purchase cigarettes.  

Judging Analogies

Judging analogies seems to be something that people use and do on a daily basis.  I found the “evaluating an analogy” box on page 257 very useful and helpful.  It gives an outline on how to determine the evaluation of a good analogy.  There are seven steps to evaluation an analogy.  The first step to evaluating is:

1. To determine if this is an argument and what the conclusion is. 
2. Find the comparison.
3. What are the premises?
4. Similarities?
5. Then you have to determine if you can state the similarities as premises and find a general principle that covers both the sides.
6. Does the general principle apply to both sides?
7. The last step is determining if the argument is strong or valid and also if it’s good.

This box really seemed to help me because it shows this evaluation as an easy step by step process.  One of the more important ideas about judging analogies seemed to be if the general principle applies to both sides.