Argument and Evidence

For this week, I have learned about unit 4. The focus skill is Argument and Evidence. For the background readings is Reading 4.3 Ruby (1954) ‘What is the evidence?’ Reading 4.4 Aik and Edmonds (1976) ‘Statistics’ and Reading 4.5 Aik and Edmonds (1976) ‘Crooked and fallacious thinking’. The reading text is Reading 4.1 ‘Body language that speaks to muggers’. The portfolio task is guided response to critical question.

Firstly, reading 4.3 was presented by ila and Fazley. During the presentation they speak to fast and sometimes I can’t understand what are they really want to say. But, from the presentation, the evidence is a reason or set of reasons that somebody uses to show that something is true or correct. The evidence is the facts, signs, or objects that make you believe something is true. There are two types of evidence which is tangible evidence and eye-witnesses evidence. The example for the tangible evidence which is evidence that we can see is the famous case of the kidnapping of the infant son of Charles Lindbergh that led to the conviction and execution of Bruno Hauptman. The eye-witnesses evidence is not truly true because it can change anytime. It is hard to make sure the evidence. From the case, there is no evidence because the case is bias. As a conclusion for this topic, many of us are imperfect observer, and even when we observe well, our memories may play tricks on us. Don’t ever trust to what you have heard, see and read.

Then, reading 4.4 about statistics was presented by Fahmy and Subhi. They did not use the OHP during the presentation but they use their laptop. The introduction is about their concern towards use and misuse of statistics. Statistics can be defined as the tool for us to make the maximum use of quantitative measurement and assessment and it refers to information about any phenomenon or active expressed in numerical form. The important of statistics on human affairs is various from our trendy to associates facts closely with figures. There are 4 common statistical slips which is Unqualified averages, Fallacious sampling, Percentages unaccompanied by actual numbers and Misleading presentation. Next, the misuse of statistics is statistics is not true, doesn’t present all minor is true, is not actually accurate but still can be use. We also learned about new word which is ‘layman’ that can be defined as a normal people like us.

Next, for reading 4.5 was presented by Nor and Pnut. I like their group presentation because they use mind map and make us easy to understand. Their topic is Crooked and Fallacious thinking. The word crooked can be defined as trying to make people belief something by making it more complicated and fallacious can be defined as a misunderstanding about the message that people are trying to share. There are 5 common forms of crooked and fallacious. The first common is Transfer device which is use status to delivery something. As example is qualified person of specialized professions. Next is Circular argument which is give impression of meaningful talk or speech and no facts to prove. As example is money is the root of evil. Then, False analogy which is use to support argument to prove something but in fact it proves nothing. After that, Equivocation which is words use may be ambiguous. The ambiguous can be defined as one word but has double meaning. The ambiguous words can give rise to a lot of fruitless disputes and misunderstanding. It is also something that cannot be properly answered unless the key term of the questions is properly defined. Lastly, Either or assumption which is assume people with his or her own assumption. The fallacious and crooked thinkers assume that there is no middle ground between two extremes.

This is the last presentation in our class. After this, we will continue learning and discuss with each other.