Reason!

This lecture our topic was reason, Mr Tomalin commenced by explaining that this same word has more than one connotation. He continued explaining that there are two types of reasoning:  inductive and deductive.  Deductive reasoning get to a logical conclusion based in premises. For example, 1. All humans have two legs. 2. I have two legs. 3. Therefore I am a human.  In addition, we have to consider two aspects when using this type or reasoning: its validity and whether the premise is true or false. Validity refers to the pattern or logical path to get to the conclusion, so one must ask oneself: am I taking the right path to get to my conclusion? And with the premises one must always consider if it is true or false.

The other type of  reasoning is inductive reasoning, this reasoning uses specific instances to get to a general conclusion. To explain this we were shown different pictures of swans, all being white. Then we were asked what color swans were, and obviously we answered that all swans are white. This is an example of this type of reasoning. However, these two types of reasoning have problems, it does not matter how extensive your reasoning is, it can not get to an absolute certainty since you are using generalization. In deductive reasoning, I know I'm a human, however I only have one leg because of a landmine. Therefore, this type of reasoning does not work for me because there is no way I can't be a human. In inductive reasoning, there's a type of swan that is black and only exists in Australia, however, I've never been to Australia. So in my first trip to Australia I'll find out that my previous conclusion "all swans are white" is wrong. In addition, we discussed how useful this reason could be as a way of knowing, taking into account we use this reasoning every day for our decisions.

Afterwards, Mr Tomalin asked when is it reasonable to use this type of logic? One friend said that when time is limited, which in my opinion makes sense. We were also explained that inductive reasoning causes stereotypes so we were told to avoid making generalizations and to be aware whenever we say "all". In addition, we discussed how useful this reason could be as a way of knowing, taking into account we use this reasoning every day for our decisions.

Profanity

The whole class was asked to divide in small groups and was given a sheet of paper. This sheet contained 5 different profanity scenarios which we had to discuss our opinion regarding what was proposed on the scenario. As soon as we were allowed to discuss I could hear lots of opinions already coming out from people’s mouths, everyone was eager to share what they thought.

For the majority of the class my group and I discussed scenario 2. It described that in the year 2035 rules concerning profanity in the media have all disappeared then it asked if morally, this was a progress or regress? Half of my group said it was progress and the other half contradicted them. According to one opinion, this was progress due to the fact that since profanity is not prohibited anymore, people would not get offended with the words that used to be really offensive. This change is because these words are will be commonly used thus people will not take them as a taboo or as an offense anymore.

The other half agreed with this statement, but added that since words that used to offend people do not offend them anymore, new words would be created that would be offensive. However, both opinions kept disagreeing and did not reach a conclusion. Despite this disagreement, I understood the way my peers reason and the arguments they were bringing into the discussion.