Week 7 - 1 of 3

Chapter 10 discusses a type of reasoning, that is, appeals to emotion. An appeal to emotion according to Epstein, is just a premise that says, roughly, you should believe or do something because you feel a certain way. There are three different kinds of appeals to emotion: appeal to pity, appeal to fear, and appeal to spite. Appeal to pity is a method of reasoning where a person uses usually sad things to get another person to do something. For example: Jack and Jill just saw a commercial about women and children being abused. The ad was created by an organization who is helping victims of abused relationships. They want the public's support. Jill looks at Jack and says, "We have to donate something, they need our help. It isn't right what is happening to those women and children. We should do something about it." Appeal to fear is a method used to manipulate people. An example of this would be: "Vote for Jackson because he will keep you safe. If you don't you will die." Appeal to spite is a method that usually does not use moral because it seeks revenge. An example of this appeal would be: If your boyfriend cheated on you, you cheat on him. The appeal that I find most interesting out of the three is the appeal to spite. Though I am guilty to all three, I have recently dealt with spite. Sometimes in difficult situations I let my emotions get the best of me instead of thinking rationally. The example of cheating has happened to my friend and he is still with the "love of his life". Revenge and spite are very strong words as well as actions that are not the best choices in life.