Sally Ride

Sally Ride has lead an extremely interesting and successful career path. She was clearly determined to do great things when she  became a double major in English and Physics. She knew that it was important to have  effective communication skills if she wanted to achieve her goals. A critical thinker must posses important skills such as: analytical skills, effective communication, keeping an open mind, research and inquiry skills, problem solving ability, collaborative learning, attention, and flexibility. All of these skills are essential in a critical thinker. In the story about Sally it reveals that even as a child she enjoyed solving problems. She even had friends that described her as a person who was able to think quickly and figure out a solution. Having the ability to articulate her thoughts with others is another important skill that she posses. Her excellent skills have made her an asset to NASA and have proved her to be a great role model for children.

Nonverbal Language

One of topics not yet discussed that I thought was useful and important from chapter 3 is nonverbal language. I think nonverbal language is just as vital to communication as verbal language is. Nonverbal language is tone of voice, cues, and body language. A lot can be learned from making yourself aware of other people's nonverbal cues. If someone is saying yes but shaking their head no that is a clear discrepancy. A person may tell you they are not upset but display anger in their voice. These examples may cause us to wonder if the person we are communicating with is really being honest with us. Do we believe the nonverbal or verbal language? This is one of the reasons it is important to be aware of cues. If you are confused with the mixed signals you could and should talk to the person about it. Say to them I hear you say yes but you also shook your head no. Is this really something that you want to do or would you rather skip it. 

Rhetorical Devices

The two rhetorical devices that I have used in the last couple of weeks are sarcasm and hyperbole. Sarcasm is a rhetorical device that basically allows someone to insult and/or ridicule someone else while deflecting it with the use of humor. I use sarcasm when I tell my fiancé that I love the way he has cleaned our bedroom. Since getting engaged a few months ago he and I have moved in together. He is not as interested in keeping things as clean as I am so I "tease" him about the messes he makes. I also have used hyperbole recently. Hyperbole is a rhetorical device that uses exaggeration. I don't use hyperbole in a negative way to distort facts, but I may say things like I would just die if that happened to me. The book depicts rhetorical devices as negative, which I think is the case sometimes, but I think they can also be used in harmless ways.

Emotional Intelligence

I think that the section on emotional intelligence and empathy are two important topics in chapter 2. The book explains that emotional intelligence helps to appraise and express emotions. Having emotional intelligence is important to the overall health of a person and helps them make better decisions. Having the inability to express our feelings can have a negative effect on our actions and relationships. Empathy is having the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. According to former Vice President Al Gore, he believes that the reason the American public is desensitized to violent images is because of the images that are shown on TV and in the news. I think that there is some truth to this claim. Repeated exposure to things makes it less shocking and eventually becomes part of a norm. I agree with the book that having emotional intelligence is important to developing and maintaining healthy relationships.   

Aquinas vs. Dawkins

Religion has and will always be a hot topic. It is one that has been argued both ways between the believes and the non-believers. Thomas Aquinas' argues that there are five reasons that God must exist. I think the argument that he presented gave Richard Dawkins a lot of ammunition to shoot holes through his claims. The first three of the five ways "the existence of God can be proved" are so similar that they could be combined into one reason. Presenting a weak argument may cause the audience to question the knowledge the author has on the topic. If you wish to write a piece on a topic that is highly controversial it is important to put forth a dynamite argument. If non-believes were so easy to convince they would be believers already. Aquinas may have rebuted Dawkins by stating that he used reason to back up each of his claims. 

Week 4; Post 2

An inductive argument that I found myself involved in this week was between myself and my grandma. She and I were talking on the phone and she asked me how long after my fiancé and I get married will we start having children. I told her that we were thinking of not having any children. She seemed absolutely appalled by my answer and couldn't seem to understand how a married couple would not have any children. To her, after getting married she would expect that we would have children. She assumed because me and my fiance are getting married (the premises) that we were going to have children (the conclusion). This argument between my grandma and I was an inductive argument because she looked at the premises, that I am getting married, and drew her own conclusion, that I would want to have children. Inductive arguments can be very tricky because they rely on assumptions rather than real facts. 

Week 4; Post 1

Dr. Novello is a woman that didn't let the fact that she was born into a poor family, the loss of her father at a young age, and dealing with health problems as a child stand in the way of achieving remarkable things. In fact these may be some of the reasons she was so motivated to helping reduce the devastation created by AIDS, violence, smoking, and alcohol. Her use of cause-and-effect inductive reasoning was helpful when she began her crusade to lower the increased number of teens and children that smoked cigarettes. She noticed that the numbers increased substantially in 1988 which was when cigarette ads hit the public eye.  She reasoned that since the ads came out the same year of the increase they must be related. The increased number in teens and children smoking was caused by the ads they were being exposed to. The exposure to cigarette smoke in turn effected the health of the teens and children.