In Class: Re-Defining Arguments

Last week we were asked to bring in an example of an argument and the argument I brought in was the Iron Man race. Although this was not like my other classmates exactly it does still have a limited view of an argument. Of course this assignment being a school assignment I guessed that the entire class was going to bring in about the same things and have a one way view of what the teacher presented. I just did not know exaclty what was going to come of this. After reading the first chapter I guess what came as the biggest shock was the amount of different details that go into an argument and what is considered an argument.

I knew that arguments could have different objectives, but not as many as the chapter presented. When deciding what type of argument there are many things to be considered such as its nature, the quality, what actions should be taken, and did something happen. Did something happen describes the common thought of an argument...involving something that can be proven to someone else with evidence. An example might be something that happens in a court of law. But what about the other categories? What is the quality describes someones opinion on something, their values, and their priorities. The book uses someone arguing if a sports car is a good car.

On the topic of "everything is an argument" I was most surprised that an argument could be for meditation or prayer. I guess its normal to assume that in an arugment or debate about a specific ethical or moral topic there will be meditation on that topic and even reconsidering of one's thoughts about that topic.