Discussion Ch 11&12
Module 9 Significant Omissions & Reasonable Conclusions
ARQ Discussion
This week’s reading brings us to the final two “Right” Questions in our text. We’ll be finishing up this reading with the final chapter in our third and final unit. For this week’s discussion, though, we’ll be thinking about Omissions and Conclusions. To start, share your reflections on these two chapters, please answer Two (or more, if you like) of the following questions for each chapter:
For Chapter 11 (Significant Omissions):
How doe the availability heuristic and the tendency to stereotype decrease the likelihood that we will access important omitted information in making judgments?
Think of some situations in your life in which you made poor decisions because you failed to ask: What else do I need to know?
Describe some tactful ways that you might ask for omitted information when you are having a debate with one of your peers.
What are some strategies that you might use to develop the habit of looking for omitted information in communicators’ arguments? What are some of the obstacles that you face in successfully applying the critical question of what significant information is omitted?
For Chapter 12 (Reasonable Conclusions):
Why is it so beneficial to consider alternative conclusions as you evaluate arguments?
How is this chapter related to the Either/Or Fallacy discussed in Chapter 7?
What are the relationships among ambiguity, assumptions, and evidence, and trying to generate multiple reasonable conclusions?
Describe thinking processes that you can use as you search for multiple conclusions.
Why is it helpful to use “if” clauses to help you find alternative conclusions?
How much justification do you believe a conclusion should have before you decide to accept it?
Then, think about how these two chapters’ questions relate to the proposition you are currently studying and preparing to write about. What significant omission(s) have you identified in the arguments of either side of this proposition’s debate?
And, of all of the reasons you’ve identified to support the proposition you’re studying, which would you rank highest? (try rating the reasons from 1 to 4 stars, then look at only the 3-4 star reasons) Are these reasons consistent with any other conclusions that have not yet been considered? (in other words, is there another viable “solution” to the “problem” this proposition hopes to solve?)
