BLOG # 5 - Inductive and Deductive Arguments

For the final blog we are looking at deductive and inductive arguments

 

Deductive arguments are arguments where the goal (to achieve valid arguments) is to provide conclusive evidence for the conclusion - The nature of the inferential claim is such that it is impossible for the premises to be true and that conclusion false (Valid or Invalid)

 

Example:

 

Premises: All snails eat lettuce

Premises: This thing is a snail

Conclusion: This thing eats lettuce

Inductive arguments are arguments where the goal (to achieve strong & reliable beliefs) is to provide the best available evidence for the conclusion - The nature of the inferential claim is such that it is unlikely that the premises are true and the conclusion false (Strong or Weak)

 

Example:

Premise: This snail eats lettuce

Premise: This snail eats lettuce

Premise: This one too etc

Conclusion: All snails eat lettuce. 

Article 1

A suspected terrorist has tried to kill a French soldier in a copycat type attack to the murder of the serviceman in Woolwich a week earlier.  Article by Peter Allen published in the daily mail on May 26^th 2013, 10:56am. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2331141/Woolwich-murder-Suspected-terrorist-tried-kill-French-soldier-copycat-attack-caught-security-camera-footage-removing-robes.html  

Inductive Reasoning: 

Premise:       2 suspected radical Islamic men stabbed a serviceman in the throat in a very public place in Woolwich, London

Premise:       a suspected radical Islamic man stabbed a French soldier in the throat in a public place in Paris

Conclusion: Therefore the second attack was a copycat attack and was inspired by the first attack.

The inductive reasoning utilised above would give rise to a valid yet weak argument.

Article 2 

The attack of a serviceman in Woolwich has caused an increase in anti-Muslim incidents.  Article by the Huffington Post UK published on May 25^th 2013, 9:10am.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/05/25/woolwich-attack-provokes-sharp-increase-in-incidents_n_3335042.html

 

Deductive Reasoning: 

Premise:       The attack on the London serviceman by suspected Islamic terrorists happened

Premise:       State-funded helpline recorded a huge increase in anti-Muslim incidents

Premise:       150 incidents over a 48 hour period occurred; compared to the average 6 – 8 per day since attack

Conclusion: Therefore the murder of the serviceman by the suspected Islamic terrorist has caused a spike in the number of anti-Muslim incidents occurring.  

The deductive reasoning utilised above would give rise to a valid conclusion.

PUNCH BUGGY; NO PUNCH BACKS!

For my fourth blog I have to observe the world around me and reflect on……

 

Habits, ‘truth’ or other phenomenon that have grown from tradition or other source (e.g. family, disciplinary or cultural) and become part of our ‘practice’ that may or not have any evidence base for the practice.

 

Habits: according to the Oxford online English dictionary of 2013 a habit is defined 'as a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up'.  When thinking of habits we see them as something we do just because we have always known it to be done that way, for example the way we drive our car, the process we go through each morning when we get to work, the way we attack the supermarkets.  Everybody has habits that they do and don't even realize that it is a habit, some are formed from traditions they have grown up with, experiences they have hand and their own beliefs.

 

Truths: A truth is something that is found to have evidence to back it up, what people believe to be true and what is actual truth can be very different.

 

I have chosen to look at the origin of the 'punch buggy'.  Having grown up with older brothers I have copped many a bruised arm over the years and was intrigued to know who is responsible for this.  For those of you who don't know what the punch buggy is; it is a game that is usually played in cars where one person spots a Volkswagen Beetle, punches the person next to them in the arm and says 'punch buggy; no punch backs'.  There are a few variations to the game depending on who you talk to, some call it 'slug bug', some add the colour of the bug into their saying and certain colours can give you certain points.

 

 

After doing some research I have learnt that it is not known where the punch buggy originated from.  It has been suggested on some forums of players of the game that it started back in the 1960’s, many commenting that their Dad’s played it back when they were young.

 

This is a game that is played all across the world only via habits that started with someone, somewhere that has been passed down from generation to generation, there is no truths available to back up where it started, just one of those games we play because we are taught.

 

 

Blog 3 - Problem Solving; Legalisation of Same-Sex Marriage in Australia

Blog 3 – Problem Solving; Legalisation of Same-Sex Marriage in Australia

Observe the world around you & consider a problem to be solved. Reflect on the:

Problem: What needs to be solved?

Recognition by law of same-sex marriage in Australia.  Same-sex partners can legally be considered de facto partners, and in some states can have a civil union but they are still not legally allowed to marry in Australia.  Not being allowed to marry takes away same-sex couples rights to relationship entitlements that a married couple have access to.

Context: Describe the problem space (e.g. political/cultural, usual practice, technical complexity) 

54% of Australian same-sex couples would marry if they had the choice. 80% support that choice. 56% of same-sex de facto couples and 78% of same-sex civil partner would prefer to marry if they had the choice (Australian Marriage Equality 2013).   

Legalising same-sex marriage is in both a political and cultural problem space; culturally, in failing to allow same-sex marriage our federal law is sending a message to society that it is acceptable to discriminate against a person because of their sexual orientation, and suggests that same-sex partners are not capable of showing love and commitment to one another via marriage.  It excludes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people from the long standing social institution of marriage; the institution which provides health and wellbeing benefits, and security for partners and children.

Politics is what is standing in the way of same-sex marriage being legalised, it has been debated by politicians many times and the bill has been voted down.  The Greens party have brought up the debate again in the House of Representatives bringing forward his bill for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples (Kenny, M 2013). The bill is trying to remove references to the definition of marriage as being exclusively between a man and a women but would not require churches to perform same-sex marriages unless they wanted to (Kenny, M 2013).

Religion also plays a part in the problem space for same-sex marriages becoming legal.  Some religious groups believe marriage is the union of a man and a women and anything outside of that is a sin.

Realities: Describe the practice space (e.g. public/private)

This problem occurs all throughout the world very publicly, but also privately to many people.  Some countries / states have passed laws already that allow same-sex couples to marry so we are on the way to this problem being solved; however there are still many countries it is still illegal.  There are also so many people who have to live with this privately every day, same-sex couples who have been together for many years just have to sit and wait for it to be legal for them to marry.

Actors: Who are the key actors in the network? (e.g. positive / negative effect)

There are both positive and negative effects coming from the government. In Australia, the state and territory governments have extended to same-sex couples some of the legal and economic rights and responsibilities that heterosexual couples receive; which is a positive, but far from all of them though.  Negatively, they still are excluded from the institution of marriage itself, which undermines their basic human rights to equal legal treatment and discriminates against them.

Although there is an ongoing debate whether same-sex marriage should be legal or illegal, the debate has been on constant for years now. One day it may be legal but until then same-sex couples will have to continue fighting for their rights. The positive effect of this problem is that views have shifted in a positive direction, more people are being more accepting of same-sex relationships.

Tensions: What are the tensions from the problem / practice space?

Tensions are the pressure from the government, the debates that can effect whether same-sex marriage will be legal or illegal, and how this law will be changed. How will we convince the government to vote to get this bill passed? Will the religious culture fight for this law to remain illegal?

Problem definition: What would the problem look like if it were solved?

If the laws were passed to make same-sex marriage legal it would remove discrimination of these relationships.  It would allow these couples to have the same economic rights and responsibilities as heterosexual couples, it would also allow health and wellbeing benefits and security for one another and their children.

Concepts: What possible concepts might provide a solution?

We are currently in the longest Australian federal election campaign in history, we have the chance now to talk to the candidates, Labor and Liberal; start the discussion and convince them it is a worthwhile cause.  Convince them that although there are many things in politics that seem more of a priority like paying the bills and getting a quality education, same-sex marriage is important to a portion of our country so it should be important to all of us.

References:

Australian Marriage Equality 2013, Marriage equality facts at a glance, viewed 6^th April 2013,

http://www.australianmarriageequality.com/wp/get-informed/quick-facts/

Kenny, M 2013, Greens to push gay marriage rights, viewed 5^th April 2013, http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/greens-to-push-gay-marriage-rights-20130314-2g1gq.html

New Perspectives

Blog 2 – we have been asked to read through three other students’ blogs and talk about how this informed any new perspectives.  It has been great reading all the blogs that have been submitted and it has shown me that each individual has a different contextual lens; and these lenses are influenced by the life each individual has lived to date, upbringing, families, field of employment, life experience and so on. 

The first blog that gave me a new perspective is ‘Armed Robbery on Armaguard cash van’ written by Michele Whillock and can be found http://mwhillock80.wordpress.com/ 

This blog is about an attempted robbery of an armaguard van which staff at a café across the road were filming on their phones.  The first thing I thought of was how brave the staff sounded in the film and how clever to think quick and start filming, getting the number plate and calling the police.  If I was in that situation I would like to think I would do the same but I wonder if the fear of getting spotted and potentially shot would take over and make me want to stay out of it.  When reading Michele’s blog and watching the file I didn’t think of the media influences on this story and I completely agree with Michele’s views on how the media can shape their story to give us the perception that they want us to have and not give us the complete facts so we can come to our own conclusions. 

The next blog that caught my attention was by Steph Willis which can be found http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/blog/index.php?courseid=2039&blogpage=1 

This one caught my attention because such a simple thing like a girl sitting on the side of a road can still bring in so many different peoples perspectives.  It is sad to say that I believe there would be a lot of people today that would just drive past that girl and either not even consider what might be going on; or have a negative perception (ie she is drunk, on drugs) and do nothing.  I never would have considered that the girl could be running away from ‘people from the past’ because I personally have not had any experiences with ghosts.  So my perception would have been very far from the actual reality of the situation.  Very interesting read and made me want to get to the end and find out why the girl was sitting on the side of the road; and shocked me with the reasoning. 

The third blog that caught my interest was by Jake Campbell which can be found http://contextuallens.blogspot.com.au/ 

This blog was a story about Jake’s trip to Fiji and an injury that turned ugly with infection. Reading through this blog I found myself thinking about what I would have done if it was me and initially thinking that Jake was a silly young boy for not getting the graze properly attended to earlier.  Then I remembered about my trip to Cambodia when I was younger and the completely different lives they have in other countries.  Initially, in Cambodia I found myself shocked by how much poverty there was and I was put off by the beggars in the street but the longer I stayed the more I got used to it and my lens of the country changed.  I stopped seeing the poverty and started seeing how amazing and happy the people of Cambodia are with nothing; I also started to get used to living the way they lived and not the way we do in Australia so perhaps if I was to get a graze when I was there I might have left it longer than I would have in Australia because the availability of medical attention would not have been as prevalent.  Very glad the story had a happy ending and Jake has a fully functional leg!

 

 

One afternoon a couple years back I embarked on what became a long and fatiguing journey from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane for a job interview.  The highway leg of my trip in was going quite smoothly; however once I hit Brisbane it was approximately 3:30pm meaning peak traffic had begun. In addition to excess cars on the road, the area had several schools nearby which led to an abnormally large amount of child pedestrians and cyclists journeying home from school and work. I made my way slowly through all the traffic towards Toowong; where my destination in which the job interview was being held.  After navigating the busy roads I was about to make the final turn to my destination. To complete the turn I needed to turn from the right hand lane across traffic in to the adjacent street. Traffic in the opposite direction was in gridlock with no movement ensuring visibility was very low.  I was at a complete stop in the left lane, put my indicator on to inform the traffic coming in the other direction I wanted to turn across their path into a street on her right.  The line of cars on the other side of the road were all trying to exit to their left and were lined up 20 cars deep. Whilst waiting for the traffic to clear a driver in the opposite direction left space for me to pass through and waved indicating for me to go and left room for me to turn across her path into the street on the right. After acknowledging the compassionate driver I began the turn completely unaware of the cyclist heading in the opposite direction. The cyclists were not being held up like the cars were so they were going at a fast pace down the road, halfway through the turn a cyclist crashed in to the side of my vehicle.  At the point of impact the cyclist flipped over the handlebars and the bonnet of my vehicle and landed on the road opposite side of the car.  I froze, some of the other cyclists stopped, jumped off their bikes and helped the injured cyclist off the road. Luckily one of the cyclists was a general practitioner and she proceeded to check over the injured cyclist while another rang the ambulance. 

 

The impact had taken me by complete surprise leaving me in shock. As the view was completely blocked by the oncoming traffic there was no chance of me seeing the bicycle lane let alone the cyclist.  One of the onlookers moved my car off the road and I remorsefully went over to check on the cyclist. Rushing over to him I witnessed the extent of his injuries, despite having a bloodied leg and totalled bike the cyclist seemed in a stable condition with those being the worst of his injuries.  Next the ambulance arrived and checked him out confirming his lucky escape.  Shortly after, both the fire brigade and police arrived to take statements from me, the cyclist and some of the witnesses.  During this time the wife of the injured cyclist turned up to collect her husband; after all the statements were taken everybody was told the report would be done and they would be informed of the result in due course.  The wife of the injured cyclist proceeded to walk over to me; not to yell and scream at me for hitting her husband (which is what I was prepared for), but to offer a cup of tea at their house as she was worried about the shocked, emotional state I was in and the long drive back to the Sunshine Coast I had. 

 

The contextual lens of:

Me; the driver

initial thoughts / feelings

Shock from the incident

Did I just kill someone? – Guilt

Denial – it wasn’t my fault, he ran into me; I didn’t see him

Worry for the injured cyclist

Devastation that I hurt another human being

thoughts / feelings once the initial shock passed

Embarrassment – Fire brigade, Ambulance, Police in the driveway of the company Jaidah was meant to be having a job interview with

Relief that the cyclist was ok

Fear of what was going to happen to me after the police had completed their investigation

Touched that the wife of the cyclist was so caring and genuinely wanted to make sure I was ok

Cyclist

thoughts / feelings

Pain

Am I ok?

Did anyone else get hurt?

Anger towards me – what was she thinking? Why didn’t she see me?

 

Is my bike ok?

Relief that he was ok

Thankful when his wife turned up to collect him

Police

thoughts

What happened?

Is everyone okay?

Who was at fault?

Judgment towards me for causing such an incident

Outcomes 

The report came back a couple weeks later and found that I was in the wrong; even though I did not see the cyclist coming I did turn into his path when by law I had to give way to him.  On a happier note I did go back for the job interview at a later date and was offered the position.