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Chapter 3

Chapter 3 helped me learn about the different perspectives people have with argumentation and the ways that they evaluate arguments and what makes them believe in an argument. Since I am someone who believes in logic and trust scientific evidence and discoveries I was mostly focused on the part in the chapter where they talked about the role of science in argumentation. The majority of people would not simply agree with an argument if it was based on personal beliefs and lacked forms of evidence. The chapter explained that the most convincing arguments are usually the ones that includes scientific evidence. However, whether or not a person needs to have a lot of scientific evidence can be based on who it is that is presenting the argument. A person with a lot of power and social influence, for example a celebrity like Kylie Jenner, they have such a strong following and support from fans that they could tell people something with no evidence present, and they would probably believe them. That is because they have a lot of credibility and people believe what they say to be true. Someone who are not of celebrity status or has a powerful position in society, would most likely need a good story in addition to strong scientific proof.

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  1. AnonymousSeptember 26, 2018 at 5:33 AM

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  2. AnonymousSeptember 26, 2018 at 5:38 AM

    Hi Matz! Thank you for sharing, I enjoyed reading your post. I believe you make some useful points regarding on how it is important for argumentation to not only include personal beliefs, but also to sustain some kind of evidence that helps support the claims. You mention how the chapter states that the most convincing arguments are those which include scientific evidence. I think your example is great for demonstrating how an individual with presence and popularity has greater influence without necessarily needing scientific evidence to back up their arguments. Lastly, I would agree that someone with less social influence would need stronger evidence to support their claims. Do you find yourself believing arguments that well-known individuals make (like celebrities for example) or do you usually agree with claims only if they have evidence supporting it? In my opinion, I do value scientific evidence, but would not agree with the authors state that the most convincing arguments are those which contain scientific evidence. What if you are presenting the argument to an audience that lacks scientific knowledge?

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