Appeal to Popularity

The Appeal to Popularity has the following form:

1. Most people approve of X (have favorable emotions towards X).
2. Therefore X is true.

Appeals to popularity suggest that an idea must be true simply because it is widely held. This is a fallacy because popular opinion can be, and quite often is, mistaken.

Example:

(1)  Most people believe in a god or ‘higher power’.
Therefore:

(2) God, or at least a higher power, must exist.

This argument is an appeal to popularity because it suggests that God must exist based solely on the popularity of belief in God.

Appeal to Belief

Appeal to Belief is a fallacy that has this general pattern:

1. Most people believe that a claim, X, is true.
2. Therefore X is true.

The appeal to belief is an informal fallacy of relevance, where it is asserted that since a great number of people believe a proposition is true, it is true. This is an appeal to an inappropriate justification. If what everyone believes were actually true, then it would be true that the earth is flat, because at one time, most of the people believed it to be true. And then the earth became spherical, because most of the people believed it to be spherical. As you can see, even if it is the case that most people believe in the truth of a proposition, it doesn’t make it true. The number of people believing something to be true doesn’t bear on its truth.

Final Reflection

We have indeed pushed through quite a bit of literature, ancient Greek drama, 19^th century Russian fiction, and late 20^th century poetry—with a stop or two in the English Renaissance and Norway. I never thought, before this class, that I would be able to appreciate poetry like I do now. Poetry gave me a voice that I couldn't have spoken from otherwise. Reading poetry, thinking of its philosophical and emotional importance to human culture as a whole, as well as using it to share my beliefs to others and myself, is amazing. Poetry has redefined me, and given me more respect and love for life in general. It has also given me the opportunity to express myself using descriptive words. I have a better understanding of my thoughts and can express my thoughts more fluently.

I wasn’t a big fan of the short story we read, “Death of Ivan Illych,” because it was really depressing and I never felt like reading it because of that. And also it was really long and throughout the story you just sort of read the same thing over and over again how Ivan’s life was incomplete and terrible. When you read the story you can almost feel his pain, which really put me in a depressing mood, thus, the reason I didn’t like it.

For me, A Doll’s House, was a definitely a piece which moved me because through out the course we read poems like, A Yellow Wallpaper, A Rose for Emily, and Cinderella that portrayed women as silent statues. The leading females did what they were expected to do and were treated like children, rather then adults. I hold a semi feminist point of view so when I read the play, A Doll’s House, I almost felt proud of Nora for standing her ground and leaving her husband who also treated her like she was a nobody. In the end Nora had enough of being controlled by her husband that she decided to leave her family so she could rediscover herself because all her life she just did what was expected of her.

Reading these feminist themed poems and drama was important for me because I strongly feel for women that get treated bad by men just so they can prove a point. I’m glad people write about these important issues so everyone can be more aware of what’s going on around them.

Overall, I would have to say I really enjoyed this class and it was a wonderful experience that I will never forget. I learned a lot during this course and I now really do appreciate all the wonderful work I have read. Great class!

Oedipus

In the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, Oedipus is a classic tragic hero. According to Aristotle's definition, Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a king whose life falls apart when he finds out his life story. There are a number of characteristics described by Aristotle that identify a tragic hero. For example, a tragic hero must cause his own downfall; his fate is not deserved, and his punishment exceeds the crime; he also must be of noble stature and have greatness. Oedipus is in love with his idealized self, but neither the grandiose nor the depressive Narcissus can really love himself . All of the above characteristics make Oedipus a tragic hero according to Aristotle's ideas about tragedy, and a narcissist.

The Tempest

The Tempest works in the realm of fantasy, magic, spirits, unlikely coincidences. I think it is a lighthearted, escapist work rather than a “serious” drama. This drama provides an arena for much interplay between illusion and reality.  Prospero, Duke of Milan, facilitates this interplay.  Prospero uses the study of magic to disillusion the other characters brought to the island by way of the tempest. At times it can seem like a serious drama since there is a lot of talk about revenge, but then we see that there is a lot of redemptions also in the play. In the end we see that there is a happy ending to the story.

A Doll's House

 In the play "A Doll House" the main character, Nora, is in a situation where she is caused to act, emotionally and physically, as a doll to please her husband. Nora has to be very sneaky and conniving in order to be perfect and talked down to by her husband. The themes from this story are the same as the themes from previous stories such as "A Rose For Emily", "Chrysanthemums", and "The Yellow Wallpaper", where we can see the  dominating role of men in society versus the weak role of women. The theme from “ A Doll House” is  a little different when compared to other short stories and poems because here Nora leaves her husband at the end rather than keep getting depressed and emotionally unstable.

Drama Translation

I personally believe we all understand something so much better if we visually see something rather then read it because that is boring sometimes hard to concentrate on. I also believe if your a part of an act in a play it's much more interesting because you get involved into the character and portray something much more efficient. The only down side of this can is one would assume it's an easy task to write a play but its much more then when a bunch of people come together and try to put their ideas on the table. You then have to sort out and deal with everyone's unique ideas and try to fit it into one single master piece.