Friday, April 4, 2008

cHaPteR 4: ARGUMENTS AND EVIDENCE

What is the evidence?

This chapter is focusing on the evidence and it begins with the well-known case of the kidnapping of the infant son of Charles Lindbergh and examines the evidence, wholly circumstantial, that led to the conviction and execution of Bruno Hauptman. The writer goes on talk about the quality of evidence in other famous cases, including historical treatments of past events. The jury found Hauptman guilty after taking a look for strong evidence and this case is due, not so much to its intrinsic interest, as to the fact that it presents such a wealth of evidence. There are some who think that circumstantial evidence is not altogether trustworthy as a basis for determining guilt. They prefer testimonial evidence, such as that of eyewitness, who testify that they themselves have seen the accused commit the crime. People need to discuss a case involving testimonial evidence in a moment and need to seek the truth, but must be content with probability and not demand absolute certainly. The probabilities depend upon the evidence that is available.

-Statistic
- Crooked and fallacious thinking

The word statistic has two meanings. When it is used with a plural verb, it refers to information about any phenomenon or activity expressed in numerical form, such as vital statistic, college-enrolment figures, and opinion poll percentages. For the singular, it denotes the art and sciences of collecting, presenting, analyzing and interpreting numerical data. Statistic is the tool to make the maximum use of quantitative measurements and assessments. The important of statistic is human affairs is obvious from our tendency to associate facts closely with figures. The meanings of crooked and fallacious thinking are a manipulative tool in the hands of writers wishing to influence and affect the judgments of their readers. This topic is important to be able to interrogate the logic contained in the argument in a text. By the transfer device, a crooked thinkers transfers the prestige of something of which we approve.

Reflection

From this chapter, evidence is the really important things in case to prove something, for example, the juries need to find the tough evidence to prove that the crimes are guilty or not. The probabilities depend upon the evidence that is available. We need to be more critical-minded, and never forget to ask the question, ‘What is the evidence?’ .When the evidence is confused, we ought to suspend judgment and wait for further evidence. Statistic is really important in human affairs because is obvious from our tendency to associate facts closely with figures. For example, there are statistics that record the population in Malaysia, so we know how many people who live in Malaysia. We also may know the figure of new birth and the death. From topic crooked and fallacious thinking, I think that we need to beware with this situation because it is one of manipulative tools that influence people to make the judgments and also may persuade people.

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