Enlightenment

      Find the premise of the argument. Bring to class in week 10.

In the response to ‘An Answer to the question: What is Enlightenment’, written by Immanuel Kant, the overall premise at work is that one’s self incurred immaturity of laziness and lack of courage interferes with one reaching Enlightenment. Enlightenment occurs when one emerges from this type of immaturity and reaches a point of gaining “courage to use in…own understanding.”

Kant examines how society can make a person lazy, as it is convenient to be immature, and as he puts it, “I need not to think, so long as I can pay”, the doctors who create diet plans and spiritual advisers. These boundaries of society have created less freedom, by causing restrictions of one living and finding their enlightenment. However one type of restriction that can promote enlightenment is mans reason of wanting to be free. By this, if an individual does not know what are restrictions, then how would the know freedom, which is an essential aspect of reaching enlightenment.

Week 7- The square of argument.

Use the square of argument to analyse two of the following claims.
Unicorns exist because they are good and they are pretty.

The overall principle at work in this claim is that, the basis of existence is based on the qualities of being good and pretty. The rebuttal to this claim is that not all living things are good and pretty. For example if a person does bad acts, then that individual would still exist.
The ground to provide evidence that unicorns exist may encounter eye witness accounts or show that all living things are born with goodness inside, but change. Overall, this claim is insufficient as there is no proof and has faults in the basis of its argument.

Week 7- The square of argument.

      Use the square of argument to analyse two of the following claims.

The planet mars has plans for you. This week, be prepared for an encounter with your ideal romantic partner.

The overall principle at work in this statement is that astrology influences an individual’s love life. Evidence of astrology influencing one’s life, may include prediction from previous astrology readings occurring on a similar date, however, this is not a viable source of evidence as the question lies under, how does a planet in space influence one’s mood surrounding love. Overall, one must follow their own beliefs and opinions of life, and this claim is not substantial because it states the outcome, rather than suggest the possible future.

Rational-ethical principle

      Choose two of the following statements and make an argument (in about 200-300 words) for what you consider to be the rational-ethical principle at work. Try to express the principle itself in one or two words.

A rational ethical principle can be identified by the features of ethics, which incorporates feeling towards a topic or issue, as well as a rational thought based on reason. This principle is evident in the statement “Killing is wrong, but sometimes we make exceptions (self defence, warfare). Nonetheless I certainly don’t want to be killed. I’ll respect the desire of others not to be killed. Overall, society will be safer.”

The rational-ethical principle at work in this statement is that “Killing is wrong”. It is both rational and ethical, because the feeling towards killing is it is morally wrong and is an unacceptable act. This statement is ethical because it is an emotion/feeling towards the issue of killing. The rationality of this thought is based on reason, that “society will be safer” if there were no killings.

This statement examines the issue of quality of life, that is, if one is to suffer the question of living or dyeing is created. The rational ethical principle is again at work in statement number two, “Frank is in the painful last stages of terminal cancer. He would like to take up the option of euthanasia. In a society that defends individual freedom of choice, this should be permitted.” Within this statement ethics is represented through the feeling towards having the choice of using euthanasia, and is rational because the ethic is based on the reason that the society defends individual choice.

Week 5- Summary Template.

      Read the excerpts from René Descartes’ Discourse on Method and write a summary (Summarise both together, not separately) following the above template. The task is to follow the template as closely as possible, while at the same getting to the most important parts of the text.
Rene Descartes conveys throughout the text the quality of good sense and its implication on individuals. Main point is that good sense is a quality in all people and describes it as a “Fairly distributed thing in the world”, effecting people in different ways and
defines good sense as a quality of judging well and distinguishing truth from error.

One needs to apply it properly in order to possess it that possesses the qualities of clearness, fullness and readiness of memory. Descartes refers to the philosophical reference of ‘good sense’ that the difference of greater and less holds only to chance. Overall, Descartes conveys that one who is good does not need laws.

Week 4- Question 2.

      Write a short essay in which you first summarize our rationale for the templates in this book and then articulate your own position in response. If you want, you can use the template below to organize you paragraphs, expending and modifying it as necessary to fit what you want to say.

In the Introduction to “They Say/I Say”: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein provide templates designed to assist in basic moves that structure and even generate own writing, as it allows one to enter into academic thinking whilst incorporating principles into action. As the authors themselves put it, “Working with these templates can give you an immediate sense of how to engage in the kinds of critical thinking.” Although some people believe, as mentioned in the book, plagiarism and stifling creativity by using such templates may occur. However, Graff and Birkenstein insist that established patterns and structures “help your writing become more original and creative,  not less”, and that using a template is not plagiarism, as “no one person owns a conventional formula” and are commonly used.

 In my view, the types of templates that the authors recommend are helpful as they allow the expression in a structural form and assist in an in depth analysis.  For instance, if an individual uses a template from the book, and are concerned whether to make their argument more detailed and well supported, the template will act as guidance.  For example the line “From this perspective” will convey that a source should be added to support the claim. Overall, templates are a good beginning point to increase skill by moulding content into an essay structure.

Week 4- Question 1.

Read the following paragraph from an essay by Emily Poe, a student at Furman University. Disregarding for the moment what Poe says, focus your attention to the phrases uses to structure what she says (Italicized here). The write a paragraph using Poe’s as a model but replacing her topic, vegetarianism, with one of your own. 
The issue of global warming has varying viewpoints, by Politian’s, scientists and every day individuals.  They see global warming from different viewpoints and knowledge of the earth. However, there is growing tension between facts and beliefs, as there are opinions that global warming is a myth or a natural occurring process of the earth’s existence. On the contrary most scientists agree that global warming is real and is caused by humans, whilst others believe it is part of the world’s natural process. For the truth is that humans need to take responsibility for their actions, in order to maintain the ways of living and improve the environment. In this essay, then, Closely comparing the research of both viewpoints and determining that global warming is real and is effected by human activity.

Distinguishing between opinion, belief and truth. Week 2

Can we distinguish between opinions, belief and truth? Give an example of something that many people claim to be true, but is rather an opinion or belief.
To distinguish between opinions, belief and the truth is an important aspect of academic writing. The truth is based on facts such as evidence (proof), whilst knowledge is based on how a person establishes a fact. In the excerpt “the analogy of the cave”, conveys these aspects of academic writing through surrounding the scenario of prisoners in a cave. These men are kept in a cave sitting around a fire, which is a metaphor of their world. This scene shows that knowledge about the world is gained through what is seen. However, the escape of a prisoner finds the truth (fact) as the realization of the outside noises is people ad that there is a greater world.

An example where truth and opinion are interrelated within society is the bias towards an individual due to their biological traits. When an individual is judged due to the colour of their skin or hair is rather an opinion than a fact. For example, a Lebanese with distinguishing features does not mean they are good at operating businesses.

Bibliography- Cathy Esber

I was born into a large family with seven brothers and two sisters, in 1992. I had a typical up bringing though abit more louder than some. I also grew up with surroundings of animals, as my father bred birds, we had chickens, rabbits and dogs. These qualities impacted on who I am today, allowing me to be a social and animal caring person. I completed the Higher school certificate in 2009 and commnenced university in 2010. I am completing Bachelor of arts (pathway to primary teaching) though am considering transferring to teach High school English. My future ambition involves travelling and teaching in poverty stricken communities, as every child deserves quality education no matter where they come from.

Funny Anecdote- Cathy

      Funny Anecdote
My funny anecdote that I can remember, occurred on a hot summer’s day. I still to this day find it funny as my father was a soldier and quite a strict father. Though this experience allowed my sister and I to see another side of him we hardly saw. It began with a forty degree day, my family and I stuck in the house with the air conditioning switched on to full blast. I was eight years old and my sister was twelve. As children who have been watching television all day and have grew out from our toys we were searching for new forms of entertainment. After my sister and I got kicked out of the kitchen for wining of boredom to our mother, we found my father asleep inside his bedroom. Our eyes drew straight to the dressing table with the nail polishes, whilst looking at each other and giggling. My sister went directly to the hot pink, and started to paint his toe nails. As he woke up, a look of surprise washed on his face with a laugh as he realised what we have done. We then had to take it off, and then went through the house looking for some fresher entertainment.