blog posts

ARGUMENTS

Injustice is when an authority figure’s dismissal and bias causes them to misjudge someone’s character

Injustice is unfair treatment that can vary for ages, which can be the result of conservative beliefs and favoritism in families

Injustice is unfair treatment due to traditional beliefs, causing authority figures to misjudge someone’s character

When I was 12, I broke my left (dominant) wrist in a rollerskating fall. Multiple doctor’s thought I had just sprained it, and I spent six months going through immense pain while doing everyday things. Finally a doctor did a certain X-ray angle and found that I had broken a small bone in my wrist. After 3 casts, physical therapy, and continued pain, I finally had surgery to fix a torn ligament in that wrist from the skating injury. After the surgery, I was still in pain, but my surgeon told my dad, not me, that it was all in my head and I was making it up. I’m not sure if he didn’t talk to me or my mom because we’re women, or because I was 12, or because my dad is a nurse and had more “sense” in him to realize I was making it up. Either way, that really stuck with me. I sometimes doubt my own pain, that surgeon’s words echo in my head telling me I’m making it up, that I’m fine. Not being believed, and doubting your own pain is the worst feeling I think. Doctor’s should believe their patient’s pain, and they should respect the patient’s reality and circumstances.

FALLACIES

1. Begging the question: Murder is wrong, so the death penalty is wrong
2. Ad Hominem: You can’t believe their stance on climate change, they’re not a scientist
3. Equivocation: War will bring you honor, and war involves murder, so murder is honorable
4. Slippery Slope: if you take one drink of beer, you’ll soon be addicted to it
5. Straw Man: A: I think that we should limit our carbon emissions because larger corporations tend to use a lot more, killing the environments B: Not EVERY corporation uses excess carbon emissions
6. Tu Quoque: Your point on the dangers of drinking and driving are irrelevant because you once drank and drove
7. Non Sequitur: I got into a car accident when it was snowing, so no one should drive in the snow
8. False Dichotomy: You are either right or wrong
9. Argument from Ignorance: No one can prove vaccines don’t cause autism, so I believe they do
10. Red Herring: A: I think there’s life on other planets B: but what is “life” anyway
11. Stereotyping: Every dog is big. Therefore, that small pug is not a dog
12. Quibbling: you made one grammatical error in your research, so it’s now an invalid paper

The Ethics of Belief

“But if the belief has been accepted on insufficient
evidence, the pleasure is a stolen one. Not only does it deceive ourselves by giving us a sense of power which
we do not really possess, but it is sinful, because it is stolen in defiance of our duty to mankind” (William Clifford)

1.Man seeks power

2.That power can be based on deception

C:Then that power is sinful

I think that this argument is valid because each argument follows directly into the conclusion. Each sentence is about power

However, I don’t think this is sound. I don’t think everyone seeks power. Clifford even says previously that some power is based on sound evidence, in which case the power is fine, “pleasurable” even.

His thesis overall is about seeking out the right, sound, evidence. Analyzing the reasons and evidence given makes you question everything, which is a good thing, to think critically.

I think Clifford makes one fallacy: generalization. He assumes all men seek power, which I don’t think to be true.

The Will to Believe

A Live hypothesis is one that is applicable to the person it is presented to. Example: Asking someone who is tired to choose sleep or to stay awake

A Forced hypothesis is one where an ultimatum is given. Example: A patient is told to choose between two treatment plans

A continuous hypothesis is one with great gravity Example: Asking someone if they want to go to Mars.

An example to fit all three hypotheses would be politics. It can be a forced opinion, depending on your environment. Often times the environment plays a large roll in political opinion. Politics can be momentous, due to the gravity of presidential elections. The choices given for candidates can make the election and your choices very momentous. Politics are very live as well. Political opinions and stances are hotly debated and everyone has some opinion on the subject.

I think I agree with James more. Clifford made very black and white arguments in his paper, but I think James has more opinions I agree with. Not every hypothesis has to have a clear right and wrong. To use the politics example again, there are often many sides to the same story and often no “right” answer, even with sufficient evidence.

The Cave Allegory

I don’t think there is much of a correlation between the prisoners and movie goers. While its true that fiction can be an escape for many people, I think it’s fair to say that most people can discern between fiction and reality. The world would be more ideal in some fictional universes but the idea that movie goers or media consumers could be also seen as prisoners in Plato’s cave seems a stretch to me. The only way I could see it is if we go with the thought of we are all prisoners to media and fiction, needing to see their worlds and updating ourselves on their stories, but again, I think most people can discern between fantasy and reality. While media and fiction are very prevalent in our world, the amount of influence media celebrities and false information is usually distinct enough to be able to say “that is fiction”, and if not, enough people can discern the difference to hopefully sway the tide. There are always exceptions to the rule, the people who believe in the fantasy stories and lies, but on the most part the population, I think, they swiftly bring in the dose of reality.

The physical world is not a constant. Because of sensation and perception differences each person faces, nothing is exactly concrete. No one sees the color blue the same way, the trees look different to each person. Temperature, sound, color, texture, taste, and smell are all subjective. Reality is subjective, so I guess the physical world is not “reality”, but more a subjective interpretation of events and stimuli. I think it’s really cold right now but my friend thinks it’s really hot. Temperature is a reality, but it’s a subjective interpretation, so yes, since the physical world is a subjective experience, it is not a “reality”.