Organizational Relationships

Relationships between team leaders and team members are very important. As said in chapter 4, this requires the manager and the members of the group to participate on decision making. Without the participation of both parties, it is impossible to have a cooperative team, which would be very difficult to complete tasks and duties together. The team leader has the important role of leading the members, and guiding them to develop a productive group. It is also the leader's job to make sure the relationships between the members are good. Another note that is important, is for the team leader and the team members to communicate in order to have a efficient working group. If negotiation is needed, it is the department's job to figure this out, deciding which department would have the final say or which needs approval. All in all, organizational relationships in all aspects are significant to have a successful productive group.

Dr. Antonia Novello

In the article"Outside the Box" Dr.Novello used cause and effect inductive reasoning in seeking solutions to one of the key problems of smoking among adolescences. She specifically stated that the increase of children smoking happened in 1988, which is the time when the Camel cigarette ads were displayed. As Surgeon General, she addressed this issue by educating students in school and she also ban cigarette and alcohol ads that targeted children. Since the effect of the ads increased the rate of youth and smoking, she decided to solve this issue by targeting what caused the problem, which is banning these ads that influence the youth to smoke. Dr.Novello was also responsible to help bring awareness to other major problems in the youth community such as domestic violence and AIDS. I believe that Dr.Novello's approach to these issues was a very smart thing to do, it is important to inform and to educate the youth on how the media advertises tobacco influence them to participate. It is important for not only youth but everyone to know how it is very harmful to one's health.

Inductive Argument

Inductive argument happens very often in our daily life without us realizing it. Inductive argument reasons by concluding with educated guesses. For an example, I have the same professor for two of my classes. My professor decided to cancel our afternoon class due to a field trip she needed to attend to. The field trip is from 9 A.M to 5 P.M. Therefore, my teacher is probably going to cancel our morning class as well. To prove the validity of this reasoning, I broke it down. My teacher canceled our afternoon class because she will be gone for a field trip. Since the field trip will be happening during the hours of 9 to 5, based on these premises, I concluded that it is very likely my professor will cancel our morning class at 9 A.M as well. The next morning, I received an email from my professor confirming that both of our classes will be canceled. It is very common to encounter errors in inductive arguments because it all relies on assumptions and using your very own logical reasoning. However, in this case, my conclusion was right using inductive reasoning.

Deductive Arguments

There are three types of deductive arguments: arguments by elimination, arguments based on mathematics and arguments from definition. All these types can be used in a everyday basis. Argument by elimination is eliminating all the possibilites of an argument and will be only be left with one. In the story, "Silver Blaze", Holmes used this to eliminate the suspects one by one, leaving with only one conclusion. Arguments based on mathematics are based on the calculation of the argument. It is like solving word problems in daily life situations. Arguments from definition is based on meaning, or definition of a term or a stating logical facts. All three types of deductive argument can be used in our every day life. Whether it is a small debate between friends, or a debate with those who have different opinions about a situation. All these types can help with establishing a valid argument. I found this chapter to be very helpful and informative. This will definitely help me with critical thinking in the future assignments.

Death Penalty

After reading the passages on the topic of death penalty, it is given that it is a very controversial topic. Many believe it is "cruel and unusual" and it is a "torturous and barbarous methods of punishment". Sister Helen Prejean believe accordingly to the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, "who taught us not to return hate for hate and evil for evil" opposing the idea of death penalty. I agree with her reasoning, punishing murderers with death penalty would make us murderers as well. There needs to be another form of punishment, and death penalty should not be an option. What good will it bring by ending one's life as a punishment? Other enforcements may help punish convicts learn from their mistakes and give them a chance to change. I find death penalties to be very inhumane. Death penalty will not bring justice. If ending a life is way to punish someone then death penalty does not bring justice. Therefore, death penalty should be prohibited.

SIlver Blaze

In the story "Silver Blaze", Holmes tells Watson "when it comes to the art of reasoning, many people rely on opinion and unsupported assumptions", explaining that many people usually go off of their assumptions and opinions before looking for facts to support such reasoning. This usually results to a huge misunderstanding. There are ways to prevent this, simple solution known as deductive reasoning. Holmes uses this reasoning to eliminate suspects one by one, leaving him with a final conclusion.

Relying on opinions and assumption is a very common issue in general. However, it is more so common within communications and relationships. From personal experience, I've seen this happen quite often between my friends and I. During my senior of high school, I decided to plan a surprise birthday party for my best friend. However, planning this event was not an easy task. I asked a couple of my other friends to help with the party. To keep this a secret from my best friend, my other friends and I decided to meet up after school hours. The day before the party, my best friend and I got into a huge argument. She assumed that I was excluding her from my plans so she confronted me and she was really upset. I didn't want to ruin the surprise, so I pretended that me and my other friends planned to go to a concert without her. When the day came, the surprise turned out to be a success. In the end, my best friend felt horrible for acting the way she did and apologize. This is a perfect example to support what Holmes was explaining to,"When it comes to the art of reasoning, many people rely on opinion and unsupported assumptions."

Discussion Question #3

Just like any group, each group members have certain personal roles and tasks to contribute.In a critical thinking group, there are five main task roles. Which includes the information giver, information seeker, elaborator, initiator, and the administrator. Each of these roles are quite self explanatory. The information giver is the person who will present personal experiences or basic facts. The information seeker are responsible to clarify the facts that the information giver has presented. The elaborator is the one who will elaborate the points that the seeker has clarified, or to add any more input on the previous facts that were presented as well. The initiator has an important role to propose solutions or initiate any new ideas. Last but not least, the administrator has the role of keeping track of time and making sure each member is on track. Each of these roles have a significant contribution to the group in order for it to be organized and to run smoothly. I am usually the information seeker, I like to do elaborate from what the information giver presents, and I find additional information to confirm the data that was collected.

As for the personal roles there is a harmonizer, gatekeeper and sensor. The harmonizer make sure there isn't any tension. The gatekeeper is to help encourage participation from each group. The sensor recognize the emotions or relationship among group members. I usually play the role of being the harmonizer and senor, I personally do not like to work in a group with tension. With tension present in the group, it is a high chance of not being able to accomplish goals. I like to recognize the issue and settle it. Although I usually take on certain roles and tasks, I am open to other responsibilities of a group.

Week #2:Discussion Question 2

I don't think there has ever been a time where I have lost a friend when it came to standing up for an issue. However, there was a time where me and my friend got into an argument because we had different views about a situation. This happened during my junior year of high school. One of my best friend went off to college, and he started to tell me about all the new things that he's been doing in school. This involved things such as experimenting with drugs, excessive partying and he started doing really bad in school. I was really disappointed in him. I told him how I felt about his new lifestyle, I encouraged him to stop doing drugs and he should remember the reason why he is in school. We got into a huge fight and he told me that I was being close minded and he does not think there is anything wrong with his life style. I stand firm to my ground, I did not want to push him to the point where I would feel like his parent, so I just let him do what he wanted to do. For the longest, we weren't on speaking terms. After his third quarter, he called me one night and he told me he's getting dismissed from the university. He finally came to his senses that he should have listened to me and stopped when he had the chance to. Eventually, we patched things up and became good friends again.

Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage

President Obama's position is consistent in regarding same sex marriage and his belief in equal rights and opportunities for all. Although Obama opposes legalizing same sex marriage federally, he supports all civil unions in which will provide equal benefits for all same sex couples. Obama refuses to legalize same sex marriage due his personal religious beliefs, nonetheless he believes gay and lesbian couples should also receive the same benefits as heterosexual couples. His position may seem hypocritical. However, Obama did not directly say he was against same sex marriage. Obama is doing what he can to support same-sex couples, giving them the benefits of human beings, while maintaining his religious beliefs.

Based on Obama's beliefs, he would likely agree to the response of Nava and Dawidoff's argument. Hence the fact that it argues that prohibiting same-sex marriage would disregard their basic rights as human beings. As this is part of what Obama believes, it is likely that he would support both sides of argument.