final discussion 3

I learned many materials this semester from this class. Varies concepts can be used in the future. I think one of the concepts is modus ponens from the deductive arguments chapter. The theory of modus ponens is that if condition a equals to condition b, B is going to happen whenever A happens. For instance, I earn money by going to work. Premise A is going to work and Premise B is earning money. If I went to work today, that means I earned some money today. Modus ponens is a conditional rule and only occurs when the first premise occurs. This concept is very essential when we are making some decisions. It helps us to think the situation step-by-step. It also offers an opportunity for us to check whether our hypothesis at the beginning is right or wrong. I think this concept is very useful in the future.

final discussion 2

The favorite thing I like the most about the class is definitely the blogger. This is an online class and it is expected to get the work done through internet. However, it really surprised me when I knew that we need to upload posts as assignments. I was kind of new to blogger since I have not created one before this class. After this course, I found out that using blogger can express what we think and how we feel toward the chapters. Besides, the discussions which have to be done every weekend motive me to read the related chapter. This benefits me not to fall behind of the class. In addition, the grading is fair overall since we can get credit by how much effort we put. Thus, professor is very efficient to grade our work. I cannot really point out any bad sides of this class. Overall, this is my favorite class over this semester.  

final discussion 1

This is the first communication class I have taken in San Jose State University. During this entire semester, I have learned a lot from this class. The most impressive topic is from chapter 2, reason and emotion. It teaches me that everything happens with a reason behind. Reasons are the process of supporting a claim or conclusion on the basis of evidences. Before I read the chapter, I only think that reasoning is the excuses of doing something. However, I notice that reason is very important and useful in our daily life. Besides, I learn that critical thinking helps us enrich our knowledge and the views toward everything. In addition, I did not expect to learn so many things which are tightly related to our daily basis. After the reading throughout the course, I believe I can make a better and stronger argument. Last but not least, I enjoy using blogger as an assignment every week.

Chapter 12 Question 3

The main concept I learn after reading the entire chapter 12 is also the title of this chapter---science. The question “what is science?” caught my attention on the first page of the chapter. According to the book, science rests on reasoning that moves from observable, measurable facts to testable explanations for those facts. And scientists are people who discover, observe, and collect facts in a systematic manner. Science is not my friends and because of that I major in business. However, the “science” this chapter talking about is unlike the “science” I thought before. This chapter taught me that sciences are happening around us every day and every second. I will say that we can all be scientist since we observe and experience every single day. However, we need to be careful when we make conclusions. Be aware if the evidence are valid or not because it affects the conclusion directly.

Chapter 12 Question 2

There is a time that I draw an incorrect conclusion on the basis of observation alone. Back to the time when I first entered to my high school, everyone is new to me and I did not have any friends at school. The way I tried to make friends is to always keep a smile on face. People are usually smiled back. But I can remember clearly one guy did not give me any facial expression. I thought he disliked me and never thought of we could be friends nor talk. However, things were different from what I assumed. Our first talk happened when he asked me to join the club. He totally impressed me when he said that. I grabbed that chance and asked him why he did not smile to me on the first day. After that, I found out he was too sleepy that morning and that’s why he had no attention on everything. Later on we become close friends now and chat every day.  My observation on him misleads me to think that he disliked me. Sometimes we really need to seek out the truth by actions but not only by our own observation.

Chapter 12 Question 1

My zodiac sign is Leo since my birthday is August 10. Based on what the my.horoscope.com said, I need to be careful of my wording. “Be tactful when speaking today. Leo. With this day’s energy. It’s important that you take the time to think about how your words affect the person you’re talking to. It can be easier than usual to say the wrong thing. Especially if you are in the position of telling someone something you think might not go over too well. Avoid comments that suggest criticism of the person rather than the deed.” I personally do not believe in fortune. I think fate is the thing that changes by how we deal with our problems daily. Moreover, horoscope is a kind of superstition. After reading the horoscope.com, I don’t think I can learn anything from it or know how to avoid bad luck. Overall, horoscope does not give out specific data and the prediction is too general. Therefore, I will say that horoscope is falsifiable.

Chapter 11 Question 3

In chapter 11, I mainly talks about how media related to our daily lives. One concept that is useful and interesting for me is the mass media in the United States. I found out that pages are tightly related to our daily lives and that are the information surrounded to us. The reading is about the rise of mass media. Before 1940s, television is not popular yet. The main forms of media are radio and magazines. They played an important role to keep people to communicate. As time passes by, the world is developing rapidly. The media today changes to television and even mobile or internet. Now we can have the most update information through our mobile phone. On the other hand, most Americans are picking what to listen to or watch on the basis of their political views. For example, the election few days before. We can get the latest information about the vote by checking on the internet. Media now is very significant and most people are becoming more reply on media.

Chapter 11 Question 2

After reading both sides of points about internet plagiarism among college students, I would support for the wrongs of internet plagiarism by Sadler. Plagiarism is a serious problem in college that will be kicked out from school once you get caught. I believe that must be some reason for all school especially college to set this straight rule about the problem of plagiarism. Sadler writes ten valid reasons that are against plagiarism. He makes ten clear and reasoning points to support his stand against plagiarism. However, the four reasons to be happy about internet plagiarism by Hunt do not give out true information. He mentioned plagiarism is a kind of challenge in which this is a good thing.  I do not agree with Hunt is because he is only giving out his point of view towards plagiarism but not explaining in his argument. Overall, we should be aware of the problem of plagiarism. 

Chapter 11 Question 1

There are many other forms of mass media like television, radio, books etc. Nowadays, we can get most of the information simply by sitting at home using the internet. Internet is the most popular form of mass media. People especially teenagers spend more than 4 to 5 hours a day on using internet. They can buy what they want online; they can do homework or assignments online (like what we are doing right here). Media is play an important and at the same time affecting role in today’s world. Media can give you real information but also some false ideas. Anyone and everyone can create a website and that is public. In another saying, whatever information from the web may not be supported. Since people are now spending hours on internet, this kind of media can definitely change one’s point of view. For example, I see someone’s Facebook always showing tasty food. The next thing to do is to search where the places are and click for more good food. In this simple case, media expands my view.

Chapter 10 Question 3

After reading the entire chapter 10, I found out one thing that is very meaningful to me. The chapter mentions about the other errors in thinking and to avoid confirmation bias in doing a business. “A business may fail to do its research or to consider certain evidence because it assumes that its beliefs are correct when in fact they may not be.” I totally agree with this statement since the world keeps changing once every second. People especially merchants or businessmen, should keep an eye on what is happening every second in order to make everything up to date. By doing so, that can avoid many unnecessary disagreements among the business world. Besides, communication and listening skills are also the key to lead to good or bad marketing decisions. A firm should always keep a good relationship with the customers. In order to improve the marketing strategies, consumers also play an important role in it.

Chapter 10 Question 2

Wootan and Liodice are having different perspectives on the topic of regulating food advertising to children. Wootan states that the rates of obesity have doubled in children and tripled in teens. He believes the guidelines will be helpful to improve children’s diets. However, I think that will be doing too much to restrict what to eat for children. In Liodice’s opinions, he states in the first sentence in the article that free speech is the most important right in America. Thus, free speech is the basis of choice and personal responsibility. The guidelines gives him a feeling of compel which means that will be lack of freedom once the guidelines is being addressed. After reading both perspectives base on the diet, I stand on Liodice’s side because he gives out sufficient reasoning and valid information to support his point. I think Liodice makes a better argument especially because he claims clearly about the freedom of speech in the beginning of the article. 

Chapter 10 Question 1

The most impressive marketing strategy I have encountered as a consumer in the past week is from a Halloween shop. Marketing strategies are to help to the company to gain as much profit as possible. The Halloween shop that I passed by in the past week had done a great job on its marketing strategy. It caught my attention even I was not looking for a costume. The shop shows many different and creative costumes right in the front of the transparent door and windows. These make every pedestrian would take a look to their costumes even they did not walk into the shop. That will definitely benefit to the company. However, the least effective marketing strategies I encountered are Walmart’s brags of low prices. Every time when I enter Walmart, there must be a large post claiming those are the products with lowest prices. However, I do not think this is a good strategy because most of the time that product is not really in a lowest price. As time pass by, I believe most customers will notice it. And lower its profit in return.

Chapter 4 Question 3

I really learn something from the chapter 4 knowledge, evidence, and errors in thinking. One concept that I want to talk about it in details is evaluating evidence. According to the chapter, evidence is something that tends to prove or disprove a particular view. Evidence plays an important role in argument. It is used as the grounds or premises for the belief in a particular conclusion. Most importantly, we need to make sure whether the evidence on which we base our argument is accurate or not. Since evidence can come from many sources, we need to consider it based on the reliability. We can use our own experience as credible evidence for a claim. For example, there is a conflict with our experience, we are reasonable to suspect the reliability of the claim. This chapter gives out a clear idea that the importance of knowing how to evaluate the credibility and accuracy of evidence in critical thinking and logic.

Chapter 4 Question 2

In the conclusion that Condon drew was that nothing has come from the study of UFO’s that has added to scientific knowledge and it was not likely to advance science. After reading his conclusion, I think there is a lack of scientific evidence of the need of UFOs. That limited the bounds on what can be discovered and what can be valid in our lives. Hynek concluded that the goal would be to have a program to establish the reality of the UFO as a legitimate subject for future scientific study. This is based on the claims that UFOs are a global phenomenon and not enough research has been done on them. In addition, Paynter concluded that it must be proven with the highest and most complete standards of physical science and reasoning in order to know the existence of UFO. In my point of view, I think Paynter made the best argument. This is because he gave a valid conclusion that was based on the presented evidences.

Chapter 4 Question 1

Knowledge is information that you acquire from studying certain subjects or from others. Wisdom is acquired knowledge that you have applied into your life to create experiences to help you understand the knowledge at a deeper level. In other words, knowledge is knowing while wisdom is understanding. In my point of view, acquiring knowledge does not keep us from acquiring wisdom. However, knowledge is necessary for wisdom. We can have knowledge without wisdom but cannot have wisdom without knowledge. Two of them are tightly bound together. I would say I am acquiring both knowledge and wisdom in college. Whenever we study for the midterms of finals, we are gaining knowledge. After we understand the knowledge and know how to apply back in our lives and gain experiences, then it turns into wisdom. I think the information age nowadays helps us become wiser by providing many aspects of knowledge. It actually depends on how people make use of the information from the internet or media.

Chapter 3 Question 3

The concept that I would like to discuss in depth in Chapter 3 is the main concept from the chapter---what is language. From the book, it states language is a system of communication that involves a set of arbitrary symbols, whether spoken, written, or nonverbal, as in the case of sign language. In another word, language is the principal method to communicate with others. Language is also the primary means of transmitting cultural concepts and traditions. We are born into a language by what it said from the chapter. I think it is interesting sometimes because it is not a must to sound out in order to let people to understand what we are trying to say. Especially when we are with our friends, my friends can easily understand me when I just move a little with my eyes. I can conceive this as a sign or body language. Language is an amazing thing in the world which connect human as a chain since we can understand each other because of language.

Chapter 3 Question 2

One of the rhetorical devices I used in the past week is euphemism. “A euphemism is the replacement of a negative term with a neutral or positive one to cover up or sugarcoat the truth.” I was persuading my parents to let me go back to my hometown in winter break. The ticket cost $1400 which is quite a lot amount of expense for a month of winter break. What they had in mind at first when I said that was “NO! That is too much since you do not even have a job to earn any money!” Later, I changed my way to say that “I miss you so much and I want to spend my Christmas with you” with a pitiful tone. Ultimately, they approve me to go back home.

Another example of rhetorical device I used is sarcasm. “Sarcasm is the use of ridicule, insults, taunting, and/or caustic irony.” My sister is a shopaholic. She spends all her money once she gets paid. Her action gives me a chance to taunt her always suffering from lack of money even she has a job.

Chapter 3 Question 1

Looking back at the characteristics of a good critical thinker listed on page 7 in Chapter 1, Sally Ride can totally exemplify these qualities. Ride loved to solve problems while she was a child. She was known as an exemplary critical thinker and able to clearly articulate and develop strategies to meet her life goals. And also, she double majored in English and Physics. From the background information given, I can tell she is a good critical thinker. After she applied for a new group of astronauts, she was one of 35 picked out of more than 8,000 applicants. She got picked because she had outstanding analytical and critical thinking skills. Besides, Ride was chosen to serve as Capcom because of her exemplary communication skills. She made good use of her critical thinking and communication skills in order to have all those achievements. Later on she helped little girls to develop their leadership, writing and communication skills. She was not only contributed to the NASA but also to the children. 

Chapter 2 Question 3

After reading the entire chapter 2, I find one concept is interesting and I would like to talk about it in more details---fideism: faith transcends reason. According to the chapter, fideism is the transcendent realm of the divine is revealed through faith and revelation, not reason or empirical evidence. One example from the page states that Mother Teresa did not sense the presence of God for the last fifty years of her life. It shows her great faith to God. However, it will be so “blind” to believe for nothing. From the chapter, one weakness of fideism is that being convinced that something is true does not necessarily make it true. This confuses me at first. After reading that statement over again, I become understanding what it means. “God” can be the subject that we human cannot or have not proven in a scientific method. Meanwhile we all have the freedom to choose to believe or not. Therefore, I do not think there will be any conflicts and resistance between faith and reasoning.

Chapter 2 Question 2

God exists or not? There is never a specific answer for that. In my opinion, I will say evolution and a belief in God are incompatible as Dawkins claims. My reason for that is because I think Dawkins’s argument is valid. After reading the two different perspectives on reason and proofs for the existence of God, I find that Thomas Aquinas claims were not as strong as Dawkins. Most of the points from Aquinas were based on what he called “nature” which was not persuasive enough to catch my attention. On the other hand, Dawkins claims are more scientific and trustable. Since Aquinas is in the thirteenth century, he does not have many proofs to support his claims. Unlike Dawkins, he has more scientific and logical ways to convince me dto agree with his argument. Besides, I think Aquinas has added some of his own opinions in writing the argument by knowing his background as a catholic theologians and philosophers, whereas Dawkins claims are more objective. If Aquinas was still alive today, I think he will rearrange his claims and may change his perspective. 

Chapter 2 Question 1

Identifying our strengths is important in choosing a career. Dr. Grandin states that human have difficulty in visualizing the underlying problems. I agree with what she says and that is the reason why we, people, learn every day and we receive education. In order to have a brighter future in our career, we need to understand ourselves first. Knowing what is our strengths can help a lot in choosing a college major, and even a career. My strength is to simplify the problems. For example in daily college life, I will ask question directly to the professor. Since I am not sure about the answer, and sometimes friends may not know what the professor exactly wants. To make my life easier, I will seek for answer from the professor. That is the most efficient way to solve my problem. Apply back to choosing a career, I will do directly what I need for that particular time to chase for my ideal. I believe this strength can help me not only in choosing a career but my life.

Chapter 7 Question 3

One concept from chapter 7 which impressed me is the evaluating causal arguments. It really reminds me and teaches me a lesson that the conclusion should not go beyond the premises. Whenever we have some information, we should first do some kind of research base on the topic that is about. In order to make sure whether the information is correct or not, fairish research is needed. According to the chapter, causal arguments can never be 100 percent certain like other inductive argument. In this case, it is important that we have to clarify clearly the conclusions we made are not equal to the facts. On the other hand, the term “probably” or “maybe” should be used in the conclusion if the cause stated in the premise is a sufficient cause. Practice makes perfect. We should learn how to recognize and be able to analyze causal relationships. Overall, it is important to do enough research before we make any conclusion.

Chapter 7 Question 2

Inductive argument, once again, it is an argument which the conclusion probably follows from the premises. In the case of Dr. Novello, she put so many efforts on banning cigarette and alcohol through ads. She noted that the number of teens and children who smoked had begun to increase in 1988 when the Joe Camel ads for Camel cigarettes were first introduced. Then she had already concluded that she needed to educte the public about the causes of smoking. At the time when she first tried to change the fact of increasing numbers of teens smoking, she did not know whether she would succee or not. Base on those years in different universities, she has the knowledge to declare that educating the teens and public can help on reducing the number of teens smoking. Fortunately, it is true. On the path of seeking a solution to the problem of smoking among teens, Dr. Novello used her method by educting people to cure and decrease the number of teens smoking. However, the decision of smoke or quit still depends on teens.

Chapter 7 Question 1

From the reading in chapter 7 about the inductive argument, it is an argument that the conclusion probably follows from the premises. Therefore, inductive arguments are only stronger or weaker rather than true or false. There are many examples which are inductive arguments in the past week. One of the examples is that “I will be killed by car accident if I need to drive a long distance on the day I do not have enough sleep”. In another words, I predict that I will die in a car accident when I drive unconsciously. In this case, the premise is “to drive while I do not have enough sleep”, whereas the conclusion will be “it is dangerous to death”. That is an inductive argument because there is not a must to involve in an accident even when I am sleepy. However, I just put myself in a worse situation which did not happened. Overall, an inductive argument is somehow the predictions base on what information we have.

Chapter 8 Question 3

After reading Chapter 8, it teaches me more ways to present a supportive argument. One type of deductive arguments that impressed me is an argument by elimination. It states that an argument by elimination is to reduce different possibilities until there is only one possibility remains. Besides, arguments by elimination are usually easily applied to our daily life. We can always give examples that are using argument by elimination in our lives. People normally used to believe in what they heard even though they do not really have any actual evidences. If we can eliminate all unsupportive possibility, it can also help us to eliminate the possibility to believe the rumors. We are definitely have no harm but only benefits after we learn how to distinguish what is the truth and what is fake. Last but the lease, I think the lesson of arguments by elimination can totally affect our daily life. We should never believe in those news that are without proof.

Chapter 8 Question 2

Sister Helen Prejean maintains that the death penalty is a violation of human dignity and is contrary to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. I totally agree with what she said. In my point of view, I am strongly against death penalty. From the idea of Christianity, we should forgive people not only up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. This is said by the Bible. By these words, we can understand as we should always forgive people no matter what they did to you. However, in the United States, people who identify themselves as Christians are more likely to support the death penalty. There is already an inconsistency between ancient Christians and modern Christians. There will be always some difference particularly Christianity covers millions of followers and is passed from long long time ago. If I really need to choose one to believe in, I will go against death penalty. This is because the Bible is a realistic and reliable evidence to support my opinion.

Chapter 8 Question 1

In the story “Silver Blaze”, Sherlock Holmes tells Watson that when it comes to the art of reasoning, many people rely on opinion and unsupported assumptions. From my understanding, I think he means people should not believe whatever others say. That will be stupid and naive to rely on something which is unsupported assumption. Nowadays, people in the country are brainwashing by the environment. No matter what the public news is, people in the country tend to follow like a trend. One example from my personal experience happened after the earthquake in Japan few years ago. I still remember at that period of time, people rumored that salt could prevent the radiation caused by the earthquake. As a result, business people especially those profiteers, they were trying to raise the price of salt rapidly. Since salt is the basic daily necessity, this sudden change of price had direct affected to common people. People should be educated and understand when and what to believe. However, people seem like to follow what majority do. Now is the time to clear our minds and be wise.

Chapter 6 Question 3

After reading chapter 6 ‘Recognizing, Analyzing, & Constructing Arguments’, I found out many points that can catch my attention. One of the most meaningful topic from chapter 6 is from the constructing an argument. According to the steps it talks about, I learned the importance of organizing a persuasive argument. Since the whole chapter 6 has covered quite a lot of information, I can only show one piece of them. It says we better revise the argument before we need to give out any comments and I feel that this is really effective and assures me to continue to practice this skill.

An example from chapter 6 when one of the students from the class expressed his side of the topic that he had no support for made me realize that having a persuasive argument meant that I need supporting facts on the topic. Also, from the example, I learned that having a lot of information on my topic will definitely help me win my argument. This chapter has taught me that critical thinking will benefit my argument in the long run.

Chapter 6 Question 2

 The risk of losing my friends or even a job

For me, I have not been in a time when I stood my ground on an issue despite the risk of losing my friends or even a job. I believe most of us have faced the situation that is tough to make a decision. However, if we can find the balance point that can smoothen both sides, things will be much easier in our lives. There is an example I have gone through when I was fourteenth. I still remember on that day, I hung out with a group of friends. We were just chit chatting and mentioned about different religions. They were saying that God does not really exists. In their mind, the story of the whole holy thing was just a foolish joke to the world. People who believe in God are dumb. I was strongly disagreed with what they said and we had a different opinion on that topic. Even though I am not a baptized christian, I do not like to ridicule or to make fun of God or other religions. Unfortunately, they started to get mad at me because I was not at their side. At that moment, I realized that if I continued to stay strong on what I thought, it would result in a horrible fight between us which I may lose my friends. So I stood back and tried to clam them down by slightly changing to another topic. At the end, it worked out. Concluding what I am trying to state from the above experience is that if we can consider the consequences twice before we take any actions, we surly have the ability to make the situations better. It is not necessarily to take the risk of losing friends or anything important to us.

Chapter 6 Question 1

"Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage"

President Barak Obama opposes legalizing same-sex marriage on a federal level but supports civil unions and equal rights for same-sex couples. There seems to be a contradiction between his words and actions. Since Obama is the president of the United States of America, his decision can definitely influences the whole country. He is trying to remain neutral to the argument by not stating his thought clearly. However, his position is not consistent with his beliefs in equal right. He did not really go into the sensitive topic of gay and lesbian marriage. People in the country still live under a life that is full of variety. For the respond to Nava and Dawidoff's argument that prohibiting same-sex marriage is a denial of the basic rights of gays and lesbians who wish to marry, I think Obama will stay neutral as well. As long as there is no law to restrict the gay and lesbian marriage, Obama will not declare whether he is for or against same-sex marriage. 

Self Intro

HI EVERYONE

My name is Meii Un which pronounce as "May yi". This is my first year college in San Jose State University. My major is International Business. I came from Macao,China to San Francisco last year. And now I am in San Jose. Since I am new to this city, I would love to know more people and make some friends with all of you. Besides, I used to think in a random way without any senses. I hope to learn more about critical thinking in comm41 so that I think in a rational way.