Appeal To Emotion

An appeal to emotion in an argument is just a premise that says you should believe or do something because you feel a certain way. An appeal to emotion in an argument with a prescriptive conclusion can be good or bad. It is important to be alert to the use of emotion because it helps to clarify the kinds of premises needed in such an argument. Therefore, it is more easy to analyze. Any appeal to motion with a descriptive conclusion is bad if the appeal cannot be deleted as premise.

An appeal to emotion that catches my attention is the appeal to pity. The reason why it appeals to me is because like all of my other examples I have discussed for this class, the appeal to pity is something I have experienced. I did not realize that I had been appealed by pity in the past because I never thought of it as having some sort of term. Similar to what many of you may have encountered, I have been appealed by pity when it comes to the homeless. We see their sad living conditions, lack of adequate clothing, and belongings only stored in small knapsacks that we cannot help but feel pity for them. Because of the pity we feel, some of us give them extra change or even whole dollars. Giving them money seems plausible because most would assume they use the money for food or other necessities but how do we know what they really use the money for? Some homeless men even have cardboard signs that read "I'm not gonna lie. It's for cigarettes." Some may even use the donated money for drugs and other illegal activity. In these cases, it is implausible to give them money but the truth is that we may never know what they use the money for.

Useful?

A concept that I found useful is the Slippery Slope Argument from chapter 6. It is a bad argument that uses a chain of conditionals; one may be doubtful or false. The reason why I found this useful to identify is because so many people unknowingly use them. These people can even include parents! In regards to my mother, it is a cultural thing. Being an Asian American, I find my mom's culture difficult to understand. I was born and raised here in San Jose and my mom was raised in the Philippines. Our cultures clash and during one of our many arguments, I found her using a Slippery Slope Argument. Back when she was a teenager, dating was unheard of. "You could not date until you were married", my dad would always joke about. But when I started dating, my mom a little hesitant at first about giving me more freedom to go out. To her, dating young was not something to be encouraged because she grew up believing that it would embarrass the family. She believed that if you dated, you would get pregnant, and you would have to give up school. The reason why this is a slippery slope argument is because dating does not automatically mean pregnancy. And pregnancy does not always mean you become a high school dropout. I am so glad my dad understands the younger generation's culture because if he did not, my mom would not have changed her outlook on dating.

Learned From Chapter 7

From this chapter, I learned about counter-arguments. Regarding raising objections, doing so indicates that an argument is bad. An example of a bad argument is "Letting the kids outside to play is dangerous for their health." The reason why this is a bad argument is because it is subjective; it is based on opinion and is not a proven fact. Another concept I learned was refuting an argument directly. Ways you can do so are by showing that one of the arguments is dubious, or doubtful, showing that the argument is not valid or supported, and showing that the conclusion is false. An example would be "Having a husband seems nice at first because you feel attractive and appreciated. But then as you get older, your looks start to fade and he expresses less interest in you. You let your looks go, so he wants a divorce."

To reduce to the absurd means to indicate that at least one of several claims is dubious or they are collectively unacceptable, by drawing a false or unwanted conclusion from them. To break it down more clearly, what it means is if one of the claims is doubtful, then the conclusion will be false and vice versa. If an argument is strong but the conclusion is false, then one of the premises is false.

Learned From Chapter 6

From this chapter, I learned about compound claims. At first, I did not think it was something interesting but then I realized that I use them almost every day. A compound claim is composed of other claims but has to be viewed as just one claim (Epstein 113). For example, a compound claim that I find myself using all the time is "I'll pay for the next lunch or just stop by and I'll hook it up with drinks." Obviously, I am not committing to paying my friend back nor am I promising to give out free drinks. I also learned that to make compound claims, the word "or" can link them together.

Another concept I learned about are contradictory claims or negations. The text states that the contradictory has the opposite truth-value in all possible circumstances. An example of a claim could be "Harry plays basketball" while its negation would be "Harry does not play basketball." 

Advertisement

The Epstein text says that many advertisements are arguments, with the (often unstated) conclusion saying that we should buy the product. For my example, I chose QuickTrim, a diet pill advertised and endorsed by Kim Kardashian (I LOVE HER). Its conclusion is "How hot can you be?" and its premise being, "if you take the diet pill, you'll get Kim's results." The truth is, everyone is different, everyone feels different, and not everyone is going to love this product. The product has the benefits of losing weight and feeling sexy but there are always side-effects. From what my mom told me (she's an RN), diet pills can ruin your liver and most people know that diet pills should not be used long-term. The advertisement leaves the side-effects out and only focuses on the good things that can happen to a person taking the pill. In regards to Section A of Ch. 5, we can accept or reject the claim, depending on whether or not there is good reason to believe the premise, its premise is more plausible than the conclusion, and the argument is valid and strong. The advertisement (argument) is not strong; how do we know that taking this pill will work for everyone trying to lose weight? Section B touches upon personal experience being the most reliable source of information about the world. In regards to the advertisement, only a person who has taken the product can accept or reject its claim.