Monday, October 7, 2013

october 7*

JOURNAL TOPIC: [today's tunes: "Hello, Goodbye" by The Beatles; "The Logical Song" by Supertramp]

What role do logic and reason play in arguments? Does this vary by the type of argument, the type of people, and/or the circumstances, or are all arguments pretty much the same?

AGENDA:
1. Journal
2. Monty Python's "Argument Clinic" (notes: vocab, compare with your weekend argument)

HW:
1. Comment to this post with suggested vocab words and your most profound observation about arguments so far.

16 comments:


  1. Heathen
    Vacuous
    Contradiction
    Contrary

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  2. abjure
    abrogate
    abstemious
    acumen
    antebellum
    auspicious
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Within an argument the most obvious thing that has stood out to me would be that most arguments continue and escalate for whom ever is in the argument doesn't feel as if they are being heard efficiently enough and or heard at all for that matter. You will always get a few in the crowed that want to argue/challenge against logic and reasoning depending on the context of the conversations,etc.

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  3. Insidious
    conciliating
    ridicule
    ameliorate
    abatement
    acquiesce
    candor
    Confidant
    haughty

    Most likely I have seen arguments lead to get to the truth , to be heard, or have statements proposing one's personal idea, thought, belief, est. The types of argument can even be contradicting which seems to happen a little more than usually and than people get lost on what they were arguing. Emotion is something needed in order to argue, the tone to voice given off to the other person can effect the argument in some ways. That is what I have picked up on.

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  4. Valiant

    Within most arguments most people focus on the subject of the argument and not the reason for the argument.

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  5. Melancholy
    Refute
    Daunting

    The biggest thing I have noticed about arguments is that they always progress from something off topic of the original argument

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  6. As I stated in my first "argument" journal entry, I feel that the original intended purpose of arguing has been lost. An argument is supposed to be a logical process that serves to educate its participants and work towards extracting the truth from the matter at hand. Sadly enough, it is rare to see an argument take the form of an intelligent debate. Most of the "arguments" that I observe are nothing more than petty exchanges of personal jabs-- completely counterproductive. The culprit for this is human nature itself. Ultimately derived from competition for mates, people inherently and subconsciously view those around them as "threats". In order to "gain an edge" on those with comparable attributes to them, these individuals will attempt to derail their "competitors" in even the most subtle ways. Because of this, when a discrepancy between different view points emerges, an inherent defense mechanism by one or more of the parties will often kick in and direct the situation away from a logical debate and towards a verbal confrontation. The verbal slugfest that ensues insures that all hopes of resolution will be lost and all of the knowledge that is to be potentially gained will remain alien to everyone involved. I don't have any data or references to back up these claims; this is merely my hypothesis based on what I've observed and what I've philosophized. If anyone wants to argue about it, I'd be more than happy to oblige you ;) .

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  7. VOCABULARY:
    Vacuous
    Proposition

    I believe that an argument is one where you either just argue for the smallest detail or something really devastating has occured and it seems that it will have to be dealt with at court. But, for example, the car accident occurs. The typical "You hit me. No you hit me first." scenario comes up first, which is Level 1, your position. Level 2 is something that is dealt with at court, your interests are asked for and you respond with some kind of compensation. That is how, until this point, I have managed to understand what an argument is.

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  8. Contradiction.

    A lot of the time arguments are emotionally driven.

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  9. VOCAB WORDS:
    Partisan
    Portent
    Finagle
    Dither
    Gibbous

    Being good at arguing means being able to comprehend the pros and cons of both your side of the dilemma and your opponent's side of the dilemma. A good arguer also understands that not every argument is won, so even though their specific point of view isn't prime they still have the value of knowing the more effective points of an argument.

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  10. Exonerate
    Dubious
    Impasse

    Shane pretty much sums up my view. There are no true arguments anymore. Take for example the presidential debates, it is a discussion filled with spiteful remarks that have no positive impact on the conversation. This leads to hours of pointless jabber. Arguing used to be something that a person could excel at and be known for, now it virtually doesn't exist.

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  11. Inception
    Facilitate

    In an argument both of the people think they're right. Even when proven wrong people still feel there point or view is more valid than the opposer. Arguements can go from why you didn't take out the trash to why you don't smile enough. They escalate quickly and often make two people hate each other. It's dumb, that's why when someone tries to argue with me I don't care to respond because arguing is dumb and the person still won't agree with me so it's not even worth trying.

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  12. conciliatory
    festering
    vacuous
    malodorous
    git
    futile
    definite
    contrary
    gainsaying
    concept
    nicked
    This weekend I witnessed no arguments.But memory of previous arguments, I remember an argument I witnessed with a friend of mine about her difficult times with her boyfriend it was during last year when she was at school and her boyfriend being a 2012 high school graduate while she being a junior still in high school she was ranting on to me on how he went to a party with out her even knowing and that made her very upset and I could tell during the time as she was ranting on about how they have been arguing since that weekend and her telling me what occurred over the weekend on a Monday during a period we shared together during that time of telling me everything that happened and what he was saying as defense he began to text her in extreme rage saying things such as " Your nosy." and " You've lied before as well." she began telling him off and one thing led to another they texted eachother for the whole time during the period in rage until the bell rang they she decided to cal him and thats when things begin to really pop off during the whole lunch she made me sit with her on one of the farthest bench from everyone and was crying and yelling at him through the phone cursing and using foul language and harsh words to come back at him it was ridiculous to me how an argument like this is worth two young adults time. The argument ended in a very bad breakup that she is still recovering from.



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  13. contradiction
    proposition
    I noticed an argument in my family. One thing that really stood out to me was that after only a couple hours of my family members stopped arguing they would be friends with each other. This is probably because you may not like your family but they love you and care.

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  14. Scholarly
    Manipulative
    I think that arguments help us in some sort of way. They let us express how we feel and our opinion and point of view on things. They help us blow off steam, instead of holding it in until you explode !

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  15. incommensurable
    platitude
    ambivalent
    shibboleth

    I've noticed that every single time people engage in arguments, they end up attacking the individual rather than the actual situation or argument itself. It angers me to see a debate go from arguing about the real relevant point to debates going personal. There is no need to include the person themselves in the argument, but rather actual facts and logic-based arguments. Good arguments extract the individual from the proposal, same thing with essays. They are statements, not opinions.

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