Saturday, February 20, 2010
So its' Bad, So What
One thing that I noticed at the end of the chapter caught my eye and I thought that imight be a good idea to discuss it in my last post for this week. At the end of the chapter, there is a paragraph with the title, " So it's bad, So what". When I first saw this title, I assumed that it would be discussing why it would be ok for an argument to be bad. As you might guess, this was not the case. Instead, this section talked about the goal is to eventually be able to learn how to exchange ideas, not to stifle arguments. It points out that if we were to point out every single bad argument that our family and friends make, they would consider us completely unbearable. I think that statement would be completely true for most people and I know that it would be true in my life. My friends would definitely not want to talk to me as much if I criticsized. I agree with that statement of this section in the book.
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I was skimming the chapter as well and I stumbled across that section as well and I though the same thing when I read the title. I actually skipped over it when I was flipping through but now I find it interesting on what the section is really about. You do have a point and I agree with you in saying that if we really did point out every bad argument that our friends said we would not be liked very much in my group. It is good to know that it is an exchange of ideas that we are looking for and not just always the bad.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea that you brought up here. The main idea of argument/communication is to exchange ideas and try to get the other person to understand our point of view as well as understand their. I think that sometimes in life we lose track of this idea. We want to criticize others arguments on a daily basis, but sometimes it is just not appropriate to do so. In this section the book states that we “want to learn, to exchange ideas, not to stifle disagreements”. It advises us to “be gentle” and “educate” while debating. I believe that this idea is very important to keep in mind when learning how to judge the strength of other arguments. We are learning this in order to be more precise and clear in getting our points across, not to outsmart others.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you smashin24. I believe that if we did correct every single argument someone brought up, then there would be no point in being able to have a normal conversation anymore. We would not be able to express ideas or thoughts without having to worry about being criticized to the point of exhaustion. People would begin to lose interest in talking to other people and then all communication would cease to exist. Okay that is going a little to far but you get my point. It is just interesting how a book containing arguments would include such a paragraph in it.
ReplyDeleteI actually flipped to this section after you mentioned it because it sounded interesting. I agree with you that we would be completely unbearable if we just criticized everyone constantly, but the point is that we're not criticizing someone for the sake of criticizing them, we're trying to understand what it is that the other person is arguing when they aren't using fallacies or if they just have a poor claim. The point in criticizing others is to help teach the other person the flaws in their argument and hopefully form a better understanding on both parties. Basically, I think the point of the section was that it's okay to criticize people as long as you're not being a jerk about it.
ReplyDeleteI must have skipped through this section but your explanation of it was really interesting. No one wants to be that guy who points out all the bad arguments. If we all went around doing that we would be hated. I know that I am already unbearable to my family and friends and do not need to start criticizing their argument every chance I get. Knowing how to identify bad arguments and knowing what makes a good argument is always valuable. Like you said, the main goal is to be able to exchange ideas in the way we all think. It is always a good thing when your idea is a solid argument.
ReplyDeleteI think you are right about this part of the textbook, there's always something to be gained by listening to someone's argument, even if it's bad. Maybe they don't completely understand the issue, or have the right facts, but listening to his or her side will at least help you understand where the other person is coming from. Sometimes people can be completely unreasonable, and not willing to listen to your side or discuss it rationally without getting emotional about it, but you can at least listen to their side, which is more than a lot of people are willing to do.
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