Chapter 48 Summary

In this chapter you learn how to evaluate arguments and in our own writing you do this for fairness and logic. Inductive reasoning is when you are generalizing all the time as a writer. We are looking at a sample of data and conclude that data we have not observed will most likely conform to what we have seen. One way to evaluate arguments is if they are reasonable or logical fallacies which are unreasonable and our hasty generalizations and false analogies. With hasty generalization it is when a conclusion is based on insufficient or unrepresentative evidence. A good example is a stereotype which is common because our human tendency to perceive selectively. A good quote from that section is, “we tend to only see what we want to see.” This opinion was already formed and we fail to notice evidence that is with it. Some example words that hasty generalizations include are, all, ever, always, and never, when qualifiers such as most, many, unusually, and seldom would be more accurate.
Making assumptions is a claim that is taken to be true with out the need of proof. Most arguments are based to some extent on assumptions, since writers don’t have much time and space to prove all the claims. Many things can happen if you don’t have the proof to back things up and it can become very controversial.
Deductive reasoning can often be structured in a three step argument called a syllogism. The steps are, 1- anything that increases radiation in the environment is dangerous to the public (major premise), 2- nuclear reactors increase radiation in the environment (minor premise), and 3- therefore, nuclear reactors are dangerous to public health (conclusion). Each of these is about the same thing but worded differently. The major premise is a generalization, the minor premise is a specific case, and the conclusion follows from applying the generalization to the specific case.
These are some ways to evaluate arguments and there are many more throughout the section. This chapter would be a great help when you have to write a debate paper or if you need help in arguing a point on a topic. I will use this chapter to help with future assignments whether it is in this class or another class.