1. What are the most common arguments you hear to justify eating meat (from factory farmed animals)? How do they fail? What arguments did you come up with?
2. Any questions about the midterm project? Be sure to justify your answers--that's the whole point of the course.
3. Wednesday will be a "coffee shop" class.
Lecture 8A
In your teams, look at the sample claims. Identify the common theme. When your team has figured it out, write it on a piece of paper, jump up and down while saying "I'm a monkey! I'm a monkey!" and submit it to me. To complete the challenge you must also create your own example.
Part 1:
A: "Everything is love...maaaaaaaan"
B: Happiness is a continuation of happenings which are not resisted.
--Depak Chopra
C: To think is to practice brain chemistry.
--Depak Chopra
D: A person is a pattern of behavior, of a larger awareness.
--Depak Chopra
E: New and Improved Formula!
--Every advertisement ever
F: Product X "boosts your immune system and help support and maintain a healthy lifestyle."
--Every supplement ever.
G. Am I allowed to pick mushrooms?
From Oak Openings Rules and Regulations: Within the parks and public lands of the Park District, no person shall without lawful authority or privileged to do so cut down, destroy, remove, girdle, or injure a vine, bush, shrub, sapling, tree, or crop standing or growing therein, or sever, injure or destroy a product standing or growing therein or other thing attached thereto; nor shall any tree, flower, shrub, or other vegetation, or fruit or seed thereof, or soil, or rock, or mineral be removed, injured or damaged; nor shall any form of wildlife, except fish, be injured, damaged or removed without specific written permission from the Director or his/her agents. (MM)*
Vagueness: A definition is vague it has no specific meaning for the intended audience.
Part 2A:
To win this round you must rewrite the sentences 2 reflect the (at least) 2 possible meanings. First group to scream like monkeys and hand in their answers wins.
A: I like her more than you.
B: People actually eat more sushi in America than in Japan.
C: He shot the elephant in his pajamas.
D: Ami said on Monday he'd give an exam.
E. Feel free to respond to my comments or disagree with me. (An actual message sent by a friend inviting me to follow him on twitter)
Part 2B:
A: He was found by his friend.
B: Apparently my parking is quite good. Someone left an official note on my window that said "parking fine."
C: Vitamin E is good for aging people.
D: Sign: Watch repairs here.
E. I'm not a big banana pancake fan.
Terms are ambiguous when they have more than one plausible interpretation. ("Ambi" means "two"). Ambiguity comes in two flavours: syntactic and semantic. Syntactic ambiguity (also called "amphiboly") is when the sentence structure offers more than one plausible meaning. Semantic ambiguity is when a word can have two possible meanings. Generally, context sorts outs semantic ambiguity (but not always).
Part 3:
A: Person 1: Everything in life happens for a reason...maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.
Person 2: That's ridiculous. What's the reason for my moving my finger right now?
Person 1: Because you had the thought "move your finger" which caused the nerves leading to your finger to fire in succession, culminating in the movement of your finger...duh.
B: Science has discovered many laws of nature. This surely constitutes proof that there is a God, for wherever there are laws, there must be a lawgiver. Consequentially, God must exist as the great lawgiver of the universe.
C: Since, as scientists tell us, energy neither comes into being nor goes out of being, there should be no energy crisis.
Fallacy of Equivocation: The fallacy of equivocation is when a key term in the argument isn't used with a consistent meaning throughout the premises and/or conclusion. In other words, a term might be used differently between premises or between the premises and the conclusion. Test hint: This is Ami's favorite fallacy.
Part 4:
A: Everything in the universe could not have created itself, therefore the universe also could not have created itself.
--William Paley's Teleological Argument
B: If everyone pursues their own best interest, societies best interests will also be served.
--Libertarianism
C: Since everyone cares about their own individual happiness, they will also care about the aggregate happiness of society.
--J.S. Mill in Utilitarianism
D: This dinner is going to taste delicious: Every ingredient it's made from is delicious.
--My mom.
E: Every person in the class was born to a mother therefore this class was born to a mother.
F: He/She's got every quality I like in a person. I'm sure we'll get along.
Fallacy of Composition: (P1) Since the parts P, Q, R which make up X have property(ies) a, b, c, then (P2) X must also have properties a, b, c.
Part 5
A: This food tastes awful. You must have used horrible ingredients.
B: The Seattle Seahawks were the best team in the NFL this year. They must have the best players.
C: The science man says there's supposed to be global warming, so why is it so cold in the D?
Fallacy of Division: (P1) Since some whole has property a, then (P2) it's parts (X, Y, Z) must also have property a.
No Homework...Bring me beautiful take-home midterms.
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