Fideism

A concept that stood out to me in chapter two is Fideism.

Fideism is the belief that the heavenly is exposed through faith and doesn’t need reason. Fideism is accepted by most Islamic fundamentalist and also Christians. Those who believe in Fideism believe that “Human beings are finite and God is infinite.” In Fideism you must have faith and also rationalism. Faith is trust and belief in the compliance of religious deity. Rationalism is the belief that religion should have reason and evidence. The problem with fideism is that persuading someone that it is true “doesn’t make it true.” Another problem with fideism is trying to decided whether or not you should believe ones faiths because choosing a faith can be difficult. There are many different beliefs. When using fideism is does not allow you to use reasoning because we cannot say that ones beliefs is correct or incorrect.

Dawkin and Aquinas

After reading the section on Perspectives on Reason and Proofs for the Existence of God I would disagree with Dawkin because he believes that the evolution and the belief in god is incompatible. I personally do not like discussing religious beliefs in school because everyone has their own personal views and some people tend to get offended by what others say. Dawkin claims that God isn’t the cause or the mover on the way society has been shaped today. I think that if Aquinas were still alive he would definitely disagree with Dawkin stating that Dawkin has no proof of what he is saying. I believe that god is the creator but Dawkins would disagree because he believes that the idea is being forced into people’s heads. Aquinas can provide evidence such as how the bible was made and is used daily. As for Dawkins he is just disagreeing with Aquinas and stating that God is just a made up name.

Page 39 Reasoning

When I am trying to identify my strengths I usually think about the things that I am good at. When I am not sure of what I am good at I tend to think about the things I like doing such as taking photographs and dancing. In order to decide what I am strong in I think about what interests me by using reasoning. I make sure that I understand the facts of my reasoning making sure that all my claims are supported. When choosing a career having a degree can help you find a better job. I am good at solving problems and taking photos, therefore the career path I am looking into is crime scene investigation. Going into crime scene investigation I can solve problems such as how someone was murdered and with photography I can also take pictures of the crime scene. Choosing your career based on your strengths can make you enjoy what you do. Using reasoning is a great way to figure out what you want to do in life.

Analogy

Analogies are two or more things or events that are compared that contain phrases. Analogies can stand-alone but can also be used as premises in arguments. Analogies alone can be considered descriptive devices and can be used to prove a point. One form of analogies is metaphors, which is used in literature. When using metaphors sometimes you cannot tell if it is being used literally or metaphorically. If an argument is based on analogy two things must be similar in one or more ways. Analogies are usually used in law, religion, politics and military. Arguments from design are one of the most famous arguments that use analogy. Noticing the similarities of the universe and other natural objects uses arguments from design. It focuses on organization and purposefulness. Analogies can be used in science for example when coming up with a hypothesis. When evaluating inductive arguments based on analogies you have to figure out what is being compared and find its similarities and dissimilarities. You have to list the differences and similarities, look at possible counter analogies and figure out if the analogy supports the conclusion.

Dr. Novello

The way Dr. Novello uses cause-and-effect inductive reasoning in the argument of seeking a solution to the problem of smoking among children and teens was by trying to get school to educate the students on smoking. She stated that smoking of teens and children increased in “1988 when the Joe Camel ads for Camel cigarettes were first introduced.” Dr. Novello attempted to get cigarettes and alcohol ads banned that were directed towards the youth. Her cause was the ads from Joe Camel and her effect was that teen and child smoking “increased dramatically.” She focused on the ads and the amount of teens and children who smoked and began to find ways for them to decrease instead of increase by trying to have the ads banned and the schools education their students on how smoking can effect them. Her Cause-and-effect tactics were effective it banned the ads and  I’m sure it decreased the amount of youth smoking.

Inductive argument

My friends wanted my friend who was pregnant to drink wine and as soon as I heard them trying to persuade her I jumped in and told them that drinking is not good for the baby.  They then explained that it is good to drink a glass a wine a day because it is good for your heart. I explained even when it was good for your heart it was still harmful for the baby. Therefore, drinking wine everyday maybe good for the mother but is harmful for the baby she is carrying. Drinking while pregnant can cause alcohol fetal syndrome. My friends and I could drink wine in order to have a good heart but the girl who was pregnant did not want to put her child at risk. Our statements were true on both sides but it is better for a woman who is pregnant to hold off on the alcohol for her child’s sake.  Inductive arguments can seem confusing when reading examples but it is just a statement that is true or false.

Concept #2

The chapter focused on deductive arguments and the concept that caught my attention in chapter 8 is the three types of deductive arguments. I feel that it is vital to know these various types of arguments because you never know when and where you will be subjected to use them. The 3 deductive arguments are arguments by the eliminations, arguments based on mathematics and arguments from definition. The function of an argument by elimination is to help eliminate a variety of choices until there is only one left. As far as an argument based on mathematics it pertains to specific calculations in order to come up with a solution for a specific problem the conclusion must derive from mathematical calculations. An argument from definition simply states that in order for the conclusion to be true all of its facts and key terminology must be true in supports of the definition. 

Death Penalty

I’m honestly not a very religious person but I do not agree with capital punishment.  Most Christian people believe in the death penalty which makes no sense because as stated in the bible “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 to return hate for hate and evil for evil’.” The taking away of someone’s life is something that can be considered to be very controversial depending upon weather or not those persons actions are justifiable vs. unjustifiable. Although people kill one another I personally do not think it makes sense to take the life of an individual because I do not feel as if you are gaining anything. Killing is just a way to hurt the persons loved ones. I n the bible it does not prohibit usage of the death penalty its simply states that people should be aware of their actions thus reaping the consequences.

Sherlock Holmes

When Sherlock Holmes says “"the difficulty, he maintains, is to detach the framework of undeniable fact from the embellishments of hearsay and reporters" is that it has shown to be quite difficult to get people to let go of what they think, and their own personal opinions rather than just focusing on the plain and simple truth.” He is saying that people add things in to bend the truth and make something sound better than it really it is. People tend to bend the truth a bit too either benefit them or make someone else look bad. Reporters tend to give their biased opinion on what they are reporting instead of just telling the public the pure and simple facts. A good example is at my job most of the other girls that work in the front don’t have a large work load. My load is very large and my duties support five other bosses. The other girls tend to tell people that I don’t do anything because I don’t help them with their work and I just sit there all day and do nothing. These embellishments of the truth put me in a bad light to the public. When really they just don’t understand what my duties are and our giving people their personal opinions. Their opinions have toward negative thoughts about me by my peers.

Premises concept

A concept that stood out to me was all the different premises. A premise is a proposition and argument that supports the conclusion. There are a total of five different premises that can be used when writing an argument.  A descriptive premise is a premise that is based on empirical facts, which are based on the five senses such as sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. A prescriptive premise is a statement contains a value statement. An analogical premise is a premise containing an analogy of two or more things that are being compared to one another. Lastly, a definitional premise is a premise that helps to define a key term in an argument. The premises are good to know because they teach the correct way to argue without having appropriate knowledge of what a premises actually is and how it works. You wont have a solid argument without them.