Drawing Diagrams for Validity

There can be valid or invalid forms in general claims. Valid claims are when the premises are true and lead to the conclusion. To check if a general claim is valid, you can draw a diagram. "It is an example of a way to check whether certain kinds of arguments that use general claims are valid" (Epstein, 164). Drawing a diagram helps to see if the premises of a claim is true as well. If there is no overlap between two topics, then that means the conclusion is most likely false. The main topic is generally represented in the center, where as the similarities or differences are overlapped within another. When one space overlaps the center, it means that both topics have something in common. When it does not overlap, it means that there is nothing in common to both topics. I personally have never actually tried drawing diagrams for validity, but who knows, maybe it can be really helpful!

First & Second Course Assignment

I think that the second course assignment was more helpful than the first one because assignment two had a lot more to do with learning and using the concepts that we have already covered in the book.. Assignment #2 gave me a better understanding of the concepts mentioned in Epstein's text since my group mates and I had to identify examples from real life from an organization. The second course assignment also allowed my group and I to analyze a certain organization and the importance of the organization. My group and I worked on an organization called PETA, which is an organization that is against animal cruelty. I have actually never heard of the organization before until this assignment. The website has many images and videos that show how animals are horribly treated. After analyzing and researching about PETA, it really helped me understand that there were certain fallacies in the organization.

General Claims

In Chapter 8 of Epstein's text, I learned about the general claims that consists of the words, all, some, only, no. I found this really helpful because I am currently enrolled in English 1b which is similar to this Critical Thinking course. Many generalizations are often made with these terms, which in fact, is not true. In the text, it defines the terms: all means "every single one, no exceptions;" some means "a few or at least one;" no means none at all; and only means no more than, or exclusively.
An example would be "All parents are so strict and mean." This is a hasty generalization because not ALL kids think their parents are strict or mean. Some parents are actually pretty nice and understanding. Plus, this seems like a subjective claim because it is one's opinion towards his or her parents. It could also be a person's own experience because of the way their parents treat them. This happens to a lot of my friends. They always tell me that their parents are so strict because they do not let them go out and hang out with their friends, but in reality, their parents might be doing the right thing. Parents want their kids to be safe and careful! On the other hand, some friends tell me that their parents let them do anything.

Contrapositives

In Chapter 6, I learned about the two claims that are both equivalent only if they are both TRUE. This is the necessary and sufficient conditions of a contra-positive claim. Contra-positive statements is when the claim and contra-positive are similar to each other. If the original proposition is true, then the contra-positive is true as well. For example, "All dishes have to be washed." --> "If you use the dishes to eat, you must wash them after." (if A, then B). If the proposition is false, then the contra-positive is false as well. A necessary condition of a claim is when A is necessary for B meaning if "If you do not pass English 1B, then you cannot enroll in English 1B." On the other hand, a sufficient condition is when A is sufficient for B. An example of this is "If you are a stranger and you touch me, I will scream because I do not know you."

Ch. 7 -- Counter-arguments

In Chapter 7, I learned about counter-arguments. Counter-arguments are arguments in which you use against an opposition, similar to objecting an objection. Objections is a way to identify that an argument is weak or bad.
Example of counter-argument:
Immigration is bad for the economy because they take jobs from Americans.
--> Immigrants are good for the economy because they will work for cheap labor which will increase jobs because of the increase of demand for crops and such.

Another thing I learned from reading Chapter 7 was "Refuting An Argument." Refuting an argument is when you show that the false premises lead to a false conclusion.It means that the argument is not strong not valid. However, it does not necessarily mean that a conclusion is false when you refute an argument. In order to refute an argument, we must make sure if there is a false conclusion, then the claims have to be plausible.

Ch. 6 -- Compound Claims

In Chapter 6 of the Epstein text, I have learned about the contradictory of a claim. "The contradictory of a claim is one that has the opposite truth-value in all possible circumstances. Sometimes a contradictory is called the negation of a claim" (Epstein, P 114). In other words. when a claim is stated, there may be contradiction to it, as in stating the opposite. In this chapter, there are two that I have learned: the "Contradictory of an OR claim," as well as a "contradictory of an AND claim." While the two terms. "and" and "or" mean two completely different things, both contradictory claims have different definitions as well. I have learned that the contradictory of an OR claim is when one or the other has contradictory. For instance, "I will pick up my brother at school, or I will go shopping." The contradictory of this statement is "I will go shopping and I will not pick up my brother." The contradictory of an AND claim is when both has contradictory. Example: Dogs can sniff really well, and they are colorblind. Dogs are colorblind, but cats are not.

Another thing I have learned in Chapter 6 is Reasoning from Hypothesis. People must have a legitimate hypothesis to have a good argument. (If A, then B). If A seems to be true or valid, then B is equivalent to A. A leads to B which will make sense. Example: If Annie is not a full-time student, then she is unable to receive financial aid.

Inferring & Implying

As I was reading Chapter 4 of the Epstein text, I thought Section E (Inferring & Implying) was an interesting concept to learn about. Sometimes I get the two mixed up and after reading this section, it helped me understand the difference a little more. The two words, "inferring" and "implying" have quite different meanings. Inferring is usually when a person comes to an unstated claim is the conclusion; a thought about something. When I "infer" something, it is usually inferred to a person or an animal. For example, if a person says something about your pet cat, he or she is usually inferring something about the dog. On the other hand, implying is usually when a person leaves a conclusion unsaid; in other words, suggesting something. For example, if you are doing horrible on your Math tests, and your teacher suggests that you should get tutored, your teacher is "implying." It may sound a bit confusing and you may get these two terms mixed up, it's actually very different.

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IMAGE -- 


The advertisement that I found on the internet was on the Neutrogena website. I looked up the information on an acne face wash called Oil Free Acne Wash Pink Grapefruit Foaming Scrub. The ad states that this acne scrub consists of Vitamin C and 100% of natural grapefruit extract, as well as tiny blue microbeads. The microbeads are polymer particles which go deep into blackouts and pores to clean out the dirt and oil on people's faces.


This relates to Sections A and B in Chapter 5 of the Epstein text because based on the evaluation premises (the test for accepting or rejecting a claim), the premises may be plausible, the argument can be valid or strong, and there is a good reason to believe the premises. Based on the three choices we can make in order to believe or reject a claim, I accept the claim as true because I have personal experience. "Our most reliable source of information about the world is our own experience" (84, Epstein). In order to trust and accept a claim, one must have personal experience because then we can rely on it. I recently bought this scrub and my face really did clear up after a couple of days. When I used it to wash my face every morning and night, it gave that feeling to my face as to where it felt more smooth and clear. As to other sources, we can accept that this claim is true by someone who is an expert in this area. My sister works at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco as a dermatologist assistant, and she had asked the doctor (her boss) if this type of scrub really helps clear acne. Her boss said yes; that is why I tried it.