Chapter 17 "Fallacies of Argument"

       In Chapter 17 of our textbook, "Everything's an Argument", it talks about the fallacies of an argument.  Fallacies are controversial parts of arguments that are flawed, usually by their nature or structure. They alert the reader because they raise questions about the ethics of the argument.  There are three different fallacies of arguments the chapter discusses; emotional, ethical and logical. Fallacies of emotional arguments involve scare tactics, either-or choices, slippery slopes, sentimental appeals and bandwagon appeals. Fallacies of ethical arguments involve appeals to false authority, dogmatism and ad hominem arguments. Fallacies of logical arguments involve hasty generalizations, faulty causalities, begging the question, equivocation, non sequiturs, the straw man and faulty analogies.
       Dogmatism refers to the style of writing in an argument where the writer assumes that there is no other acceptable opinion than his own and that the truth is self-evident. Dogmatism involves incorporating "everyone" in society to have the same bold opinion about a certain topic. It creates fallacy because it almost seems that the writer is being arrogant to any other opinions but his own. It alerts the reader because it makes them question the writer's argument that there are other possible opinions and the topic could be debatable. An example would be if someone made the argument, "There is no way that anyone could argue that abortion is anything but murder." This is a very bold statement that creates fallacy, specifically dogmatism, for an argument. It is saying there are no other alternatives when considering if abortion is murder, it is always murder and everyone else would rationally agree with that statement. It creates fallacy for the reader because it questions that abortion is always considered murder and in a way creates suspicion because the writer's argument is so bold and closed-minded. It makes them think, "Well wait, abortion isn't always considered murder" and subconsciously makes the reader provide evidence where abortion is not murder to correct the writer. This creates a problem where the reader does not trust the writer and therefore the writer's argument does not serve as much as a purpose than if it was credible and not so closed-mindedly bold. Arguments should be straight-forward but also sensitive to anyone that could read it so it is believable and the writer has an ethical appeal to his arguments.

Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen of "Everything's an Argument" is about style in arguments.  It discusses different topics like style and word choice, sentence structure and argument, punctuation and argument, special effects like figurative language and argument which include tropes like metaphors, similes, analogies and schemes and gives specific examples of each for better understanding.  All of these characteristics of arguments make a better more through o argument.  The tropes like metaphors, similes and analogies are very useful when trying to build the persuasion of an argument.  They provide a strong comparison between two ideas to better understand an argument and show similarity.  The main difference between the three tropes is similes involve the words "like" or "as" when used for comparison and metaphors and analogies do not.  An example of a a trope, specifically a simile would be "I'm so happy it is like I won the lottery".  Obviously you did not win the lottery but you are exemplifying that you are so happy that you feel like you won the lottery.  This simile uses "like".  Another example of a simile is "That pool was so cold it was like an ice bath".  The use of "like" shows the similarity between the pool and the ice bath to show another example of how cold it was for better understanding.  Similes are used very frequently in every day conversations because they help better understand what you are trying to say.  I know that I use similes a lot in my conversations when trying to explain how significant something was so my audience understands my point.  I plan on using many different tropes in my WP#2 project to better my argument in more detail.