Week 7 ; Ch.3 #2

A rhetorical device is the action of using persuasion rather than reason to persuade people to side with a particular position. There are four different types of common rhetorical devices, which consist of euphemism, dysphemism, sarcasm, and hyperbole. A euphemism is when you replace a negative term with a more positive one, basically "sugercoating" the truth. A dysphemism is the opposite of a euphemism, it's a phrase used to have a negative effect. Sarcasm is the use of insults, taunting, and caustic irony. A hyperbole is the use of exaggeration to overstate the facts. Earlier this week, I used a euphemism because when I was at work, I had to train a new hire on how to open up the store. It was her third week of working, so I asked her if she could make someone's order of fresh-squeezed orange juice. I knew she was told multiple times before to wear gloves while working with the fresh fruits because my co-workers told me ahead of time, but even after those constant reminders, she still didn't wear them this time while making the juice. Instead of scolding her like my other co-workers did, I simply told her, "Hey, we're supposed to always wear gloves when we touch the fresh fruits because nobody would want a drink that someone makes without knowing where their hands have been." After I told her that, every fresh-squeezed juice she made later that day, she wore gloves. Last week, I also used sarcasm because my roommate left her keys at home, and since I was home, she called me and asked if I could let her in. Obviously I was going to let her in, but I told her, "No,  I don't know how to open the door, so you're going to have to wait outside all night long." She knew I was being sarcastic, so she told me to just come downstairs and open the door.

Week 7 ; Ch.3 #1

When I read the story of Sally Ride, I was impressed with all the accomplishments she managed to go though. Not only was she one out of 35 picked for the astronaut class of 1978 out of more than 8,000 applicants, but she was also the youngest and the first female African astronaut in space. She is a great example of a role model for someone to pursue their goals in life. Looking back to chapter one, Ride was a critical thinker because she had analytical skills. had effective communication, had open-minded skepticism, and had creative problem solving skills. According to her friends from college, she was "calm and totally focused, always able to see the heart of things, quickly thought, figured out, and crystallized things." She sounded like a person that really had things going the way she wanted them to, and followed a successful path to life. I would think that she was the type of person that would always take problems into her own hands, and not depend on other people for things because she knew that she would be able to handle the situations on her own. I believe she was showing women that they can all do anything that men can do.

Week 6 ; Ch.2 #3

In this chapter, there is a section called, "Emotional Intelligence and the Positive Effects of Emotion". Emotional intelligence is defined as, "the ability to perceive accurately, appraise and express emotion". A few examples of emotions are: empathy, outrage, love, happiness, and guilt. Sometimes, an inability to communicate our emotions can negatively affect a person's behavior and decisions. For example, if a person is upset, and the person that they're upset with is trying to talk to them to apologize, but they are too upset to even give that person a chance to explain themselves. This could cause friendships to end. Empathy is the ability to enter into and understand the emotions of others. An empathetic person is more open to other people's opinions and thoughts. With this trait, people are able to become better listeners and communicators. Emotions can also help us correct past mistakes. This is because when it's an "in the moment" event, your emotions get the best of you and you might do something that you regret. As time passes, you could realize what you did wrong, and try to correct your mistakes.

Week 6 ; Ch.2 #2

Dawkins claims that evolution and a belief in God are incompatible. Evolution is the process of how things in this world became the way it is now with little changes as generations pass. When someone believes in God, that means they believe that God is the one that created this earth and everyone in it. If someone believes in evolution, they can't possibly believe in God as well because both ideas contradict each other. Aquinas writes about how the existence of God can be proved in five ways. These five ways are: the argument from motion, nature of the efficient cause, possibility and necessity, gradation to be found in things, and governance of the world. Dawkins on the other hand says that Aquinas's first three points mean the same thing, but is written differently, so he brings out his own ideas on how the existence of God is incompatible with the belief in evolution. If Aquinas was alive today, I think he wouldn't agree with what Dawkins believes in, and would say that it's not proof at all, that it's only his own opinion and beliefs, not evidence.

Week 6 ; Ch.2 #1

I agree with the quote that, "identifying your strengths is important in choosing a career" because without knowing your own strengths, how would you ever work towards a goal in life? Before choosing a career, you need to know what you're passionate about so that you could work hard towards the dream career you want. If you choose a career that you're not passionate about, that could cause it to become tedious, and you could possibly start to dread going to work. I personally think I'm strongest in communication because I like to talk to people, and communicating to solve problems. I like to give people advice when they ask, and tell them my personal opinion about things. This is one of the reasons why I want to pursue a career in nursing. Another reason why I want to major in nursing is because I like helping people, it's a good feeling when you know that you've made a positive impact in someone's life. 

Week 4 ; Ch.7 #3

In Think, on pages 224-225, there is a section on how to evaluate casual arguments. There are four steps to this process. By taking these steps into mind, it can help you make better decisions in life and your relationships with others. The first step is that you shouldn't assume anything, you should always look for evidence first. The more evidence there is, the stronger your argument will be. If you don't do your research and find evidence, you could cause conflict between yourself and others. The second step is that the argument shouldn't contain fallacies, which are false ideas that tend to seem correct at first. The third step is that the information to know/find out should be up-to-date, and not from a year ago. The last and final step is that the conclusion of an argument shouldn't go beyond the premises, meaning if the conclusion isn't 100% true, you should use the word "probably", or any other word similar to that. I think all of these steps are understandable and makes sense on how it could help you make better decisions in life. These steps help you make sure that you stand neutral in an argument, until evidence is found through research.

Week 4 ; Ch.7 #2

In the story about Antonia Novello, it talks about the difficult life situation she had growing up. As she grew older, she set a dream for herself and was motivated to achieve that goal to become a doctor. When she was younger, she was poor and got sick a lot, so when she got older, she decided to do something about it instead of just living her whole life in poverty. She had the ability to think critically about health-care issues. Novello noticed that the problem of children and teens smoking increased due to the ads introduced. Since she had childhood hardships, she probably doesn't want children and teens experiencing the same thing that she did. To help children and teens become more aware of the problem, she started working for more education in schools and banned alcohol and cigarette ads that were meant to target the younger generation. I think it's great what Novello did because it helps lead children and teens towards the right path towards success, rather than ruining their future with drugs and alcohol.