Apples and oranges and zero and two... still zero.

The most useful and most significant concept I've learned all semester is the apples and oranges, or the zero times two is still zero. These are a couple concept that are constantly used, whether in real life, casual discussion, or in the media (the media especially). Often times you come across people or advertisements making claims to make their argument seem really... REAL. For one thing, the apples and oranges compare two things that don't even make sense in comparison. These arguments can be construed to be legit, and it is construed to convince. Some people may not realize how nonsensical comparing apples and oranges may be, but now I can call that out.

Plus, zero times two is still zero?! This concept is crazy. It's something that I really didn't realize before, I guess before this class I totally overlooked numbers and statistics without a stated premise. Such as... We sold ten times as many tickets as yesterday. I mean, this claim makes it seem like damn this must be a good show to sell that many tickets. But wait a second... just how many tickets were sold yesterday? What if they only sold ONE ticket? Then bam, this time they sold a whopping 10 tickets...

It's good to know!!

Favorites.

As I said in the last post, I learned a great deal about how to rebuttal a rebuttal using all the text's terminology, and I also learned how to manage my time well and wisely to get all of my work done. Over all I feel that this class has taught me those two very crucial and important things in a summer course, two vital things that I could use in a crazy fall semester.

Honestly, I have heard from other people about this course and they did not enjoy the three discussion blogs with a 12 hour requirement difference, along with the three 100 word comments on other classmate's pages. They actually described it as, "Omg it's so hard and tedious, I have to write like 1000 words a week." But on a personal level... that was the best part about this online course! I feel like this course allows us to have a voice through our posts, and we get to learn through other people's voices as well. I mean yeah, my least favorite thing was the whole 12 hour thing, but it really isn't a big deal.. I can wait 12 hours, not a problem.. But it was pretty easy to me to manage the discussion posts and comments.

Plus, "The Blogging Prof" is so sweet, and this might be a weird thing to say to an online professor that I have never met before but she is very 'approachable' in a sense. She is very understanding, and I don't think there's anything I would change about this course. It's a joy and a challenge at the same time.

What I learned.

For general class, I hope it is legitimate to say that I have learned how to argue in the most efficient way. The greatest thing I've learned is how to rebuttal a counter-argument by using all of the technical terminology we used in the text. It trips people out. It's funny though, because they're not expecting me to test their arguments by calling out fallacies and validity and apples and oranges and all of that stuff. It's not expected! But it's logical, and they have nothing to say really when I throw out all these critical thinking technicalities.

I also learned how to be way more self-disciplined. Having weekly discussions with 12 hour time frames requires really good time management. You have to make sure you spread out your work wisely otherwise you may not be able to finish everything. It's something as simple as a 12 hour difference that exerts some kind of responsibility on an online-student.

March of dimes.

I had my four friends discuss our second major assignment, which my group chose to analyze the organization March of Dimes. Just for a brief overview, the March of Dimes foundation is an organization focused on the health of babies. It focuses on the research of the causes of prematurity and educating new parents and pregnant mothers on how to treat their baby. It supports the mothers, their newborn, and promotes their health.

How do you disagree with a mission like that? As my group looked over the website to follow the prompt, I admit it was kind of difficult to find problems and fallacies. My friends thought the same thing. With a concept of helping babies and researching prematurity, it’s kind of hard to go wrong. There aren’t many claims to represent a fallacy.

However, my friends did find the same one as my group paper without reading our assignment. The March of Dimes claimed to be the most hardworking organization to help babies and find the cause of prematurity--a hyperbole that could easily be countered.

Vagueness and ambiguity...?

The ENTIRE Mission critical webpage was super helpful. It seems to be our whole textbook on a single website, and covered most of the concepts in a way that was very easy to understand.

What is crazy though, is that ambiguous and vague have two very distinct and separate meanings from each other. I had always thought such similar adjectives would entail the same definition, but when it comes down to it, I should've known... everything about the art of critical thinking involves all the specifics... of all the nitty gritty details... of all the words... of every argument. Analysis just keeps going deeper and deeper into the underlying strength and validity of the arguments made.

According to the mission critical page,

Ambiguous is a word or phrase if it has two specific meanings that makes sense in context. On the other hand, vague is a word or phrase if it has no clear meaning in context.

The two definitions, as far as critical thinking goes, are totally different from another and could alter what you mean if you interchange these words.

That's crazy. All this time, I thought it was the same.

Cause and Effect.

The Cause and Effect reading was very short, precise, and thorough. I feel it put more depth into what was explained in Epstein's reading, and the exercises was a really good addition (even though the cause and effect exercises were pretty short!)

The exercises helped exhibit the way you must critically think when reading causal arguments. You really have to pay attention and search for the conclusion at times, because often times there will be unstated conclusions or premises. The reading and exercises separated the differences between “commonalities” and “differences” and how important it is to realize these two things when reading an argument. It sets aside different ground points to the cause and effect.

Also in the reading and exercises, there was a question about “likelihood.” This stresses the evidence. Without explaining the likelihood of the causal argument, there is no support for the bridge between the cause and effect. It makes that bridge sturdy, and is a necessary piece of evidence for causal arguments.