Chapter 16 talks about the use and importance of evidence in your arguments. Coming from engineering stand point evidence is everything. You cannot just go around saying anything and expect people to believe you, there must be some information proving that it is true. Evidence can come in any amount of forms, such as pathos, and ethos. Or it could just be some sort of data. For example during the earlier ages of man we thought that the sun revolved around the earth. It was not until someone was able to point out the evidence that there are in fact several planets revolving the sun including earth. When I think of evidence I think of proving something. I can talk about a fact and how great I know it, but people will not necessarily listen unless I proved some information to prove it is a fact. Or in a court case when somebody is shot and killed, the gun is evidence, and you prove that this was the gun he or she was shot with. There are two types of evidence they covered first hand, and second hand evidence. First hand evidence would be obviously first hand. Some examples of first hand evidence are observations, experiments, and interviews or surveys. Second hand evidence would being using sources such as peer review articles, or papers other people have already written and proved.
Although evidence is very important to an argument, it must be credible. For example if a hobo tells you the sun is 120 degrees because it is 120 degrees outside it is not very credible. Although there is some observation, there is not scientific reasoning making the earth’s temperature comparable to the suns temperature. Although many teachers bag on Wikipedia it is a great source of true facts, because although anyone can post it goes through hundreds of reviews before it is kept permanently. Many people use library to research information, which it is important to pick out research books and not just a story.
I agree that evidence from an engineering stand point is everything. Being in an engineering major, I have not written or read a paper that does not contain at least seventy-five percent evidence (mainly logos). A lot of products and inventions cannot get FDA certified unless extensive research is done on the product. The research is mainly graphs, data, and side effects. Certification is only approved if the case made by the company is valid enough. This can also be the case when it comes to the medical field. This is an example of using evidence to corroborate an argument. In a way the definition that most people think when they see the word evidence, is usually something to prove a point. Evidence can range from ethos and logos. Logos is more popular when it comes to medical or engineering journals. Ethos is based in more informational commercials trying to sell something. But this is my opinion on the two examples above. Another example that I like that you used, was that of the judicial system. The judicial system uses evidence a lot in many of their cases, whether it is hard evidence or an interview. I also like the fact that you introduced first hand and second hand evidence, as these two are nice definitions. Overall your excerpt from chapter sixteen was good. If I had not read the chapter beforehand, your excerpt has all the key points in this chapter, and has good evidence that explains the definitions in the piece.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is very clear and easy to understand, as well as doing a brief good job of explaining chapter 16. This blog is also talking about how chapter 16 relates to the significance of evidence, especially in the current century. This blog discusses the importance of actual facts, such as in a trial where a jury cannot make a decision unless it is based on concrete evidence that is factually/scientifically-based. Also, it is discussed how back in the day evidence was not as crucial and people would believe things without having any background information. This person also relates to engineering and how in order to prove something there is factual evidence that is needed or the point being proven is irrelevant. Also discussed is how pathos and ethos can be used to display evidence. Sometimes it can just come in qualitative amounts, but other times it can appeal to your senses by using emotional sway with factual evidence. This blog as distinguishes between first-hand evidence and second-hand evidence. First-hand being something that is collected first-hand and second-hand being an observation or experiment. The part of this description I find most crucial is the fact that they mention how the source of the evidence needs to be a credible source or else the audience may be skeptical. If the person is a nutritionist but is trying to give statistical evidence on astrophysics, they would not be a reliable source, and the evidence, even if correct, loses authority and backing. This blog gives the example of a homeless man being a credible source and I think this is effective in helping illustrate the point of being a credible source for evidence.
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