Reflective Writing Challenge 7X7x25

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Reflective Writing Challenge 7X7x25 REFLECTIVE WRITING CHALLENGE 7X7X25 The Professional Development Committee invited faculty and staff to create blogs with a total of 7 pieces of writing, over the span of 7 weeks with 25 sentences or more. These blog postings are about teaching, learning, and student success. The short term goal of the challenge is to give staff, administrators, and faculty a playful space to share and learn and to see what colleagues are doing in classes and on campus. The long term goal of the 7 x 7 x 25 Challenge is to push teachers, staff and administrators to be reflective practitioners in the field of education and share their reflections with colleagues. While the seven weeks of writing may be a start, we hope that some of the participants will continue to write and share their thoughts about the educational landscape. Credits: The writing challenge was originally conceived by Todd Conway at Yavapai College and curated for Foothill by Carolyn Holcroft. List of Participants Benjamin Armerding Oudia Mathis Ashley Bowden Richard Morasci Falk Cammin Patrick Morriss Patti Chan Rachel Mudge Maureen Chenoweth Jennifer Mullin Amy Edwards Teresa Ong Karen Erickson Kathy Perino Valerie Fong Jennifer Sinclair Katie Ha Mary Thomas Allison Herman Stephanie Tran Carolyn Holcroft Nick Tuttle Kate Jordahl Charles Witschorik Eric Kuehnl Bill Ziegenhorn Scott Lankford Teresa Zwack Benjamin Armerding Language Arts: English Week 1: January 2, 2015 WORDS There’s this story about Wittgenstein in the trench warfare of WWI. Supposedly, he sat down in the middle of no man’s land, bullets flying over his head, and started scribbling in a notebook. His platoon was flummoxed. When they later demanded an explanation he said he realized he was having, in that moment, the most important thoughts of his life and had to write them down so he wouldn’t forget. I don’t know if that story is true, but what he was writing came to be known as Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, regarded not only as some of his most important thoughts, but also one of the most important contributions to the discipline of philosophy. There is one idea from its preface that I almost always share with my students: the outermost edge of language is the outermost edge of expressible thought; whatever falls on the other side of that edge is nonsense. In class, this is supposed to turn into an interesting debate about the imprecision of language or linguistic determinism, but where it often ends with my students is at a question of their own vocabularies. They wonder if the outermost edge of their own language, is also the outermost edge of their own thoughts. If their own expression and articulation of ideas is governed by the words that they know. Are there thoughts they cannot easily express (or even access at all) if they don’t have the words for those thoughts? Across the college, many of our disciplines are networks of key terms; so, as students learn our vocabularies, they also learn our ways of knowing. They start to say things like “social contract” and “eigenvalue” and “identity,” and these words, if they are not only jargon, uncover an entire world of ideas – they push that outermost edge by another inch. I’m remembering my first year at Las Positas College. At some point, in one of my critical thinking courses, the instructor was using the word “presupposition.” I’m sure I had heard the word, and read it, but I very clearly recall the first moment I used the word for myself, and understood its meaning, and meant its meaning. And it wasn’t simply that I had added a new entry to my lexicon; the word actually gave me a new way of looking at debates, and the ways people dismiss one another before they even begin to speak. In arguments, many of us presuppose we are already right, and presuppose the other is already wrong. We do this even to the extent that if someone says something compelling we will already presuppose there is a sufficient response that we just haven’t heard yet. So the word itself, in its very existence, taught me this critical move – taught me to understand my interlocutor’s presuppositions and to especially recognize my own. Only then could we really begin the work of persuading each other. So, what words are we teaching to our students? And do we teach those words in such a way that they open up whole new worlds of thoughts, new vistas from which students might see previously unseen ideas? Week 2: January 18, 2015 FEAR A few years ago I got an email from a student that made the hair on my neck stand on edge. Sometimes lessons lead to odd conversations, so while I hadn’t quite planned it, students were asking about the ethics of torture. It had been in the news that week. I wasn’t too surprised, didn’t think much of it, until I opened my email that afternoon and read through a veteran student’s harrowing experience in Iraq. He said the small group discussion from that morning had made him nauseous, made him shut up, made him feel like he wasn’t allowed to speak. His fellow students were insistent that torture, in all cases, was reprehensible, yet he, a war veteran sitting among them, had participated in some of the very behaviors they condemned as immoral. He emailed me later, saying that none of his classmates could possibly know what it was like to watch a close friend die in front of their eyes from an IED. None of them could actually know what they might do if the bomb builder was then in their hands… in a secluded room of a base. But there he was, sitting in the classroom, in our ivory tower, listening to us all debate abstractions that were for him realities, that were his own memories, and he felt he couldn’t speak. In so doing, he would have subjected himself to the moral judgements of his peers. In another class, a student told me about the effects of her PTSD. It was her first day of college so, being diligent, she sat in the front. As the rows filled in behind her, she panicked. Too many people were at her back. Once I called roll she immediately left and from that day forward always sat in the far corner, “near the exits.” Another student told me he didn’t know why, but when we were talking about thesis statements, he started having flashbacks from the war. That was why he had left early. And these hidden fears are not exclusively experienced by our veterans. Not too long ago, an athlete student confided in me that she almost never admitted to her teachers that she was an athlete as this information might elicit their prejudice – maybe she’s a cheater? There was that article about athletes cheating in an ethics course at Dartmouth not too long ago. I bring up these stories because they remind us that we frequently don’t know the range of life experiences that are brought through the door by those fifty people in the classroom. And while I don’t think this should prevent us from including challenging materials in our curricula, I am curious to learn ways that we might give our students opportunities to process their fears. Perhaps our coursework can allow for reflection, catharsis, and recovery, and ultimately allow our students to effect change through their own voice. Week 3: January 24, 2015 DIFFICULTY Students avoid it. We all do, even as teachers. What is difficult is not attractive. And yet, if we admit it, difficulty is often there in our favorite memories, in the challenges, the surmounted tasks, the laughter after tragedies. I remember being a student (who am I kidding, I do this now, did this earlier today), when I would “skim” through difficult passages in the readings my teachers assigned. I would dodge such moments even though these difficult places were often the exact locations where I could perform the most learning. They were gaps. So why not try filling them in? This is why I am interested in the Difficulty Paper. The concept of the assignment comes from Salvatori and Donahue’s “The Elements (and Pleasures) of Difficulty” and, as I understand it, is built in a series of core steps: 1. What is most difficult about this text/problem? Why is this difficult? 2. How will you attempt to resolve this difficulty? Why will this plan work? 3. Attempt to resolve your difficulty. 4. What did you learn? Obviously, any teacher should add and subtract from these steps in whatever way is appropriate, but really, I’m curious to know how this particular assignment would translate into other disciplines outside of the Literature classroom in which is was invented. For me it is without a doubt my favorite student work to read. I enjoy it so much I almost can’t even grade the prose. So if you start doing it in your math classes, your biology classes, your physics classes, please send along some your students’ work. I’d love to see it. In my own class a student reflected on his Difficulty Paper, writing, As class goes further, the prompts become more self-guided and open-ended, which poses a challenge by itself. This prompt was specifically hard since it flows unnaturally and against intuition: usually we try to avoid difficulties, but in this case it was necessary to face it directly.
Recommended publications
  • The Hilltop 2-12-1954
    Howard University Digital Howard @ Howard University The iH lltop: 1950-60 The iH lltop Digital Archive 2-12-1954 The iH lltop 2-12-1954 Hilltop Staff Follow this and additional works at: http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_195060 Recommended Citation Staff, Hilltop, "The iH lltop 2-12-1954" (1954). The Hilltop: 1950-60. 26. http://dh.howard.edu/hilltop_195060/26 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the The iH lltop Digital Archive at Digital Howard @ Howard University. It has been accepted for inclusion in The iH lltop: 1950-60 by an authorized administrator of Digital Howard @ Howard University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. I - • • • •• • - . ' • . ---- Seniors Start Boom for ADLAI GrG'duation Speec,.. P. 1 · •g 180TllT IS A MAN WHO TAUCI IO MUCH "THE FIRE YOU KINOlE AIOUT MllWllf, nlAf HI r FOi YOUl ENEMY OFTEN 81VU Ml NO nMI TO IURNS YOUlSElF MOltE TA&ll MOur MTllU.,. THAN HIM." ' ,. -CHINESE PlOYEM -r ,., .., I "Th Cap4lfll'• Prfse.Finnbaf Collete Paper'' . VOL S6;~ NO. 5 ll BOWARD UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, D. C. FEBRUARY 12, 1954 CO:UNCIL MOVES· TO SPEED ·ELECTIONS • .. • • By !\larch 22: .... don Plana Denied: FROSH WOMEN PNs. ""8son PICK . LEADERS Deadline Set · The frahmen women o! Fra· rr t?/ 1 For Early Choice Wll WCri for 1ier Hall held election of ita hoUH pvernment ~tly. The -· · ·~ Of May Queen Anoll1er 20 YrL newly elected oftken take the places of the aeoior mentors, who · ~ In order to avoid last mi.Dute Reporta cireulated by two na­ held the posts during the first se­ l1itches in elections which would tional publications recently that me.ter.
    [Show full text]
  • The 13Th Annual ISNA-CISNA Education Forum Welcomes You!
    13th Annual ISNA Education Forum April 6th -8th, 2011 The 13th Annual ISNA-CISNA Education Forum Welcomes You! The ISNA-CISNA Education Forum, which has fostered professional growth and development and provided support to many Islamic schools, is celebrating its 13-year milestone this April. We have seen accredited schools sprout from grassroots efforts across North America; and we credit Allah, subhanna wa ta‘alla, for empowering the many men and women who have made the dreams for our schools a reality. Today the United States is home to over one thousand weekend Islamic schools and several hundred full-time Islamic schools. Having survived the initial challenge of galvanizing community support to form a school, Islamic schools are now attempting to find the most effective means to build curriculum and programs that will strengthen the Islamic faith and academic excellence of their students. These schools continue to build quality on every level to enable their students to succeed in a competitive and increasingly multicultural and interdependent world. The ISNA Education Forum has striven to be a major platform for this critical endeavor from its inception. The Annual Education Forum has been influential in supporting Islamic schools and Muslim communities to carry out various activities such as developing weekend schools; refining Qur‘anic/Arabic/Islamic Studies instruction; attaining accreditation; improving board structures and policies; and implementing training programs for principals, administrators, and teachers. Thus, the significance of the forum lies in uniting our community in working towards a common goal for our youth. Specific Goals 1. Provide sessions based on attendees‘ needs, determined by surveys.
    [Show full text]
  • Reply to the Prosecutors' Legal and Factual Claims
    STATE OF NEW YORK – COURT OF APPEALS -------------------------------------------------------------------x PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, ) -against- ) APL-2013-00064 RAPHAEL GOLB, ) Appellant. ) --------------------------------------------------------------------x REPLY BRIEF OF DEFENDANT-APPELLANT RONALD L. KUBY LEAH M. BUSBY Law Office of Ronald L. Kuby 119 West 23rd St., Suite 900 New York, New York 10011 (212) 529-0223 (212) 529-0644 (facsimile) For Appellant Raphael Golb Dated: New York, New York January 24, 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Cases and Authorities ................................................................................. ii REPLY TO RESPONDENT’S COUNTERSTATEMENT OF FACTS .................... 1 ARGUMENT .......................................................................................................... 12 I. WHEN LITERALLY ANYTHING CAN BE A LEGALLY COGNIZABLE BENEFIT OR HARM, RESPONDENT CAN CRIMINALIZE ANYONE FOR WRITING UNDER THE NAME OF ANOTHER....................................................................... 12 A. RESPONDENT ERRONEOUSLY ASSERTS THAT ANY FORM OF DISCOMFORT IS AN INJURY AND ANY FORM OF GRATIFICATION IS A BENEFIT ............. 12 B. RESPONDENT ARTICULATES NO LIMITING PRINCIPLE EXCEPT ITS OWN DISCRETION. ................... 16 C. RESPONDENT MISREADS ALVAREZ ................................. 21 D. THE TRIAL COURT DIRECTED THE JURY TO NOT CONSIDER GOLB’S FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS OR ISSUES OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH. ............................. 23 II. THE COMMUNICATIONS THAT ARE THE SUBJECT
    [Show full text]
  • Black, J. (1991). Whatever Happened to Baby Logic? Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Argumentation
    This paper was originally published as: Black, J. (1991). Whatever happened to baby logic? Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Argumentation. Amsterdam: International Society for the Study of Argumentation. Whatever Happened to Baby Logic? John Black * Originally published in Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Argumentation, Amsterdam, Stichting Internationaal Centrum voor de Studie van Argumentatie en Taalbeheersing, 1991. A. The Retreat of Baby Logic The title of this essay looks forward to a time when teachers of critical thinking, engaged in pedagogical rumination over their morning cups of tea, may ask themselves why elementary formal logic is no longer included in the content of their courses. In many parts of North America, this scenario is already enacted. Formal approaches to critical thinking, however, still hold sway in isolated pockets of the philosophical academic community. This polemic is directed primarily at those pockets, though it may be of interest to those who have already made the leap to informal logic and beyond, but are interested in exploring the pedagogical motivations for this leap. "Baby logic" is the somewhat deprecatory name given by philosophers to the courses they teach in introductory formal logic. Though these often contain an informal component, they typically focus on the propositional calculus and first-order predicate calculus. Standard content would be translations of English sentences into symbolism, differences between the logical connectives and their English colleagues (including the paradoxes of material implication), the notion of an axiomatic system, axioms and theorems, derivations (often by a natural deduction system), and such semantic tools as truth-tables and truth-trees.
    [Show full text]
  • Restorative Justice: a Marxist Analysis
    Restorative Justice: A Marxist Analysis Raymond Anthony Koen Thesis Presented for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Institute of Criminology Faculty of Law UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN August 2005 Supervisor: Professor Dirk van Zyl Smit The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University ABSTRACT Restorative Justice: A Marxist Analysis RAKoen Abstract Restorative justice is the enfant terrible of the criminological world. In no time, it has rocked the edifice of the criminal justice system, challenging the latter's very existence. It has inculpated the retributive focus of criminal justice in the creation and reproduction of the contemporary crisis of criminality. It has proclaimed itself to be in possession of the solution to that crisis. And it has offered itself as the path to a higher plane of human existence characterized by respect, trust, mutuality, and the like. The restorationist answer to the crisis of criminality is a radical one. Taking their theoretical lead from Nils Christie, the adherents of restorative justice propose the privatization of the criminal episode. That is, they contend that crime should be removed from the public arena and reconstituted as a private conflict in which victim, offender and community all have an interest as 'stakeholders'. The crime should be comprehended as the property of these 'stakeholders' who may dispose of it according to terms and conditions which they negotiate inter se, without reference to a public authority.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Reasoning in Constructing a Persuasive Argument
    The Role of Reasoning in Constructing a Persuasive Argument <http://www.orsinger.com/PDFFiles/constructing-a-persuasive-argument.pdf> [The pdf version of this document is web-enabled with linking endnotes] Richard R. Orsinger [email protected] http://www.orsinger.com McCurley, Orsinger, McCurley, Nelson & Downing, L.L.P. San Antonio Office: 1717 Tower Life Building San Antonio, Texas 78205 (210) 225-5567 http://www.orsinger.com and Dallas Office: 5950 Sherry Lane, Suite 800 Dallas, Texas 75225 (214) 273-2400 http://www.momnd.com State Bar of Texas 37th ANNUAL ADVANCED FAMILY LAW COURSE August 1-4, 2011 San Antonio CHAPTER 11 © 2011 Richard R. Orsinger All Rights Reserved The Role of Reasoning in Constructing a Persuasive Argument Chapter 11 Table of Contents I. THE IMPORTANCE OF PERSUASION.. 1 II. PERSUASION IN ARGUMENTATION.. 1 III. BACKGROUND.. 2 IV. USER’S GUIDE FOR THIS ARTICLE.. 2 V. ARISTOTLE’S THREE COMPONENTS OF A PERSUASIVE SPEECH.. 3 A. ETHOS.. 3 B. PATHOS.. 4 C. LOGOS.. 4 1. Syllogism.. 4 2. Implication.. 4 3. Enthymeme.. 4 (a) Advantages and Disadvantages of Commonplaces... 5 (b) Selection of Commonplaces.. 5 VI. ARGUMENT MODELS (OVERVIEW)... 5 A. LOGIC-BASED ARGUMENTS. 5 1. Deductive Logic.. 5 2. Inductive Logic.. 6 3. Reasoning by Analogy.. 7 B. DEFEASIBLE ARGUMENTS... 7 C. THE TOULMIN ARGUMENTATION MODEL... 7 D. FALLACIOUS ARGUMENTS.. 8 E. ARGUMENTATION SCHEMES.. 8 VII. LOGICAL REASONING (DETAILED ANALYSIS).. 8 A. DEDUCTIVE REASONING.. 8 1. The Categorical Syllogism... 8 a. Graphically Depicting the Simple Categorical Syllogism... 9 b. A Legal Dispute as a Simple Syllogism.. 9 c.
    [Show full text]
  • Trial by Jewry: the Jewish Figure As Subversive Critic in the Plays of The
    I University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. "Trial By Jewry*: The Jewish Figure as Subversive Critic in the Plays of the Public Theatre, 1580-1600 by Lloyd Edward Kermode A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts of the University of Birmingham in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Philosophy The Shakespeare Institute. August 1992 SYNOPSIS This thesis sets out to analyse the role of the Jewish figure on the late Elizabethan public stage. To do this, an historical approach is used. The first chapter charts generally the movements of the Jews on the Continent in the fifteenth- and sixteenth-centuries, showing how some Jews were to find their way to England, and where those Jews lived; but also painting a picture of the Jews' situation in various key European locations, a picture from which many images found their way onto the English stage. The second chapter analyses the place of the public theatre in the suburbs around London, and surveys the English arena into which the Jews were received. Chapters three to seven follow the estimated early performances of the plays involving Jewish or 'Jew-ish 1 figures, and analyse the social, cultural, religious and political significance of the interest in a race of people officially absent from the country since 1290.
    [Show full text]
  • MATH 9: ALGEBRA: FALLACIES, INDUCTION 1. Quantifier Recap First, a Review of Quantifiers Introduced Last Week. Recall That
    MATH 9: ALGEBRA: FALLACIES, INDUCTION October 4, 2020 1. Quantifier Recap First, a review of quantifiers introduced last week. Recall that 9 is called the existential quantifier 8 is called the universal quantifier. We write the statement 8x(P (x)) to mean for all values of x, P (x) is true, and 9x(P (x)) to mean there is some value of x such that P (x) is true. Here P (x) is a predicate, as defined last week. Generalized De Morgan's Laws: :8x(P (x)) $ 9x(:P (x)) :9x(P (x)) $ 8x(:P (x)) Note that multiple quantifiers can be used in a statement. If we have a multivariable predicate like P (x; y), it is possible to write 9x9y(P (x; y)), which is identical to a nested statement, 9x(9y(P (x; y))). If it helps to understand this, you can realize that the statement 9y(P (x; y)) is a logical predicate in variable x. Note that, in general, the order of the quantifiers does matter. To negate a statement with multiple predicates, you can do as follows: :8x(9y(P (x; y))) = 9x(:9y(P (x; y))) = 9x(8y(:P (x; y))): 2. Negations :(A =) B) $ A ^ :B :(A $ B) = (:A $ B) = (A $ :B) = (A ⊕ B) Here I am using = to indicate logical equivalence, just because it is a little less ambiguous when the statements themselves contain the $ sign; ultimately, the meaning is the same. The ⊕ symbol is the xor logical relation, which means that exactly one of A, B is true, but not both.
    [Show full text]
  • Press Layout
    Vol. XXX, Issue 14 |Friday, May 8, 2009 news2 Stan the Man is Your New Prez named the next president of Stony able individual and an enthusiastic Brook University. A decision is ex- communicator. I am certain he will be By Caitlin Ferrell pected to be made soon. a favorite among both students and fac- Stanley’s background is firmly in ulty as he leads the university in the medical research. Besides having three years to come.” Stony Brook University will have a patents to his name, he is now serving Dr. Stanley responded to the deci- new president this June: Samuel Stan- as the Vice Chancellor of Research at sion. “I am honored to have been se- ley, Jr., Vice Chancellor for Research at Washington University, which is ranked lected as Stony Brook’s next president. Washington University. He will become third in the nation for its School of In its short life, Stony Brook has ac- the university’s fifth official president Medicine. His duties as chancellor in- complished some remarkable things. I when Shirley Strum Kenny resigns her clude overseeing a research portfolio of look forward to working with my new position. The decision was announced $548 million. colleagues on the faculty, staff and stu- in a press release last Thursday. He is also a professor of medicine dents in a collective and strategic way to “We are extremely pleased and ex- and molecular biology at the university. continue Stony Brook’s remarkable tra- cited that Dr. Stanley will serve as Stony His medical knowledge is exciting to Washington University’s School of jectory of increased excellence, and to Brook’s next president,” said Richard some faculty members.
    [Show full text]
  • Fall/Winter 2017/2018
    FALL/WINTER 2017/2018 ISBN 978-3-95829-357-1 Printed in Germany by Steidl Steidl Fall/Winter 2017/2018 Cover, endpapers and special “Asia Eight” pages designed by Theseus Chan Photography –October 1911 Bellocq talks to me about light, shows me how to use shadows, how to fill the frame with objects—their intricate positions. I thrill to the magic of it—silver crystals like constellations of stars arranging on film. In the negative the whole world reverses, my black dress turned white, my skin blackened to pitch. Inside out, I said thinking of what I’ve tried to hide. I follow him now, watch him take pictures. I look at what he can see through his lens and what he cannot—silverfish behind the walls, the yellow tint of a faded bruise— other things here, what the camera misses. Poem by Natasha Trethewey from Bellocq’s Ophelia STEIDL BOOK AWARD ASIA Woong Soak Teng, Ways to Tie Trees 3 Index Contents Artists/Editors Titles 3 Editorial AFRICA 4 Index 67 Margaret Courtney-Clarke Cry Sadness into the Adams, Robert 99-107 Abstrakt Zermatt 151 Recent Histories: Contemporary African 5 Contents Coming Rain Adolph, Jörg 17 Acido Dorado 159 Photography and Video Art from The 6 How to contact us 69 David Goldblatt Fietas Fractured Badge, Peter 157 and now they know 31 Walther Collection 75 Press enquiries 71 David Goldblatt Ex Offenders at the Scene of Crime. Baltz, Lewis 161 Asia Highway 89 Seeing the Unseen 117 How to contact our imprint partners South Africa and England, 2008–2016 Baumann, Daniela 75 Being Animal 109 Something So Clear 27 73 Ernest Cole House of Bondage Chan, Theseus 37 Black and White 83 STEIDL-WERK No.
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Thinking and Practical Reason Acknowledgements Units 1 Through 10 and 1-2 Contain Much Reprinted Material with Thanks D
    Critical Thinking and Practical Reason Acknowledgements Units 1 through 10 and 1-2 contain much reprinted material with thanks due to the scholarly focus of the director of Hope Publications, Ibadan, Nigeria, who previously made possible for University of Ghana’s classroom uses the reproduction of initially reprinted and original materialappearing in a soft-cover, three volume textbook he published, History and Philosophy of Science for African Undergraduates edited and co-written by H. Lauer (2003). Relevant reprint rights from original international publishing houses were established and acknowledged in that textbook. Portions of those worksappear here again for classroom use and for distance education applications only by the University of Ghana, with consent of the editors and publishers. Unit 4 is centred around the metaphor of a Map of Knowledge and historical overview of social sciences which was learned by the author of that unit, from Emeritus Professor of Human Sciences Peter Caws at George Washington University, Washington DC. The inspiration for those sections was planted in 1983 in graduate seminar presentations and mentoring conversations at the City University of New York. The defining contrasts between the humanities, the natural and social sciences also appear in Peter Caws’ Yorick’s World: Science and the Knowing Subject.Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. Units 8 and 9 are compiled in part with the generous cooperation of Professor Merrilee H. Salmon, University of Pittsburgh Department of History and Philosophy of Science, who donated much of the material therein about causal reasoning and arguments based on sampling. The work was assembled and revised with written permission of the publisher from Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking (Sections II, IV and VI in Chapters and Sections lIl-Vlll in Chapter 4) by Merrilee H.
    [Show full text]
  • Denying the Antecedent - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Denying the antecedent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Help us provide free content to the world by • LearnLog more in /about create using Wikipediaaccount for research donating today ! • Article Discussion EditDenying this page History the antecedent From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Denying the antecedent is a formal fallacy, committed by reasoning in the form: If P , then Q . Navigation Not P . ● Main Page Therefore, not Q . ● Contents Arguments of this form are invalid (except in the rare cases where such an argument also ● Featured content instantiates some other, valid, form). Informally, this means that arguments of this form do ● Current events ● Random article not give good reason to establish their conclusions, even if their premises are true. Interaction The name denying the ● About Wikipedia antecedent derives from the premise "not P ", which denies the 9, 2008 ● Community portal "if" clause of the conditional premise.Lehman, v. on June ● Recent changes Carver One way into demonstrate archivedthe invalidity of this argument form is with a counterexample with ● Contact Wikipedia Cited true premises06-35176 but an obviously false conclusion. For example: ● Donate to No. If Queen Elizabeth is an American citizen, then she is a human being. Wikipedia ● Help Queen Elizabeth is not an American citizen. Therefore, Queen Elizabeth is not a human being. Search That argument is obviously bad, but arguments of the same form can sometimes seem superficially convincing, as in the following example imagined by Alan Turing in the article "Computing Machinery and Intelligence": “ If each man had a definite set of rules of conduct by which he regulated his life he would be no better than a machine.
    [Show full text]