CAUSES and EFFECTS 1: THE RHETORICAL STRATEGY Part 1: THE RHETORICAL STRATEGY

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND: o To reinforce the complexity & non-linearity o Of Causality & Consequence o To rectify certain misconceptions o concerning Causality & Consequence 2

BACKGROUND NO OVERSIMPLIFICATION: o a cause often has more than 1 effect o an effect often has more than 1 cause o causes can be effects from other causes o effects can become causes of other effects o Thus, causes & effects = plural o Thus, their relationship = complex, non-linear o Thus, the pictures of the spider webs 3

BACKGROUND NO OVERSIMPLIFICATION: o Life is too complex, too complicated o For events to have but 1 cause, 1 effect o such singularity, simplicity is quite rare o Thus, it would be an oversimplification to claim that a situation had but a single cause leading up to it and single effect flowing away from it 4

BACKGROUND NO VACUUM: o Further, no event happens in a vacuum o unrelated or unconnected to any other situation o past and present o Hence, causes and effects have a certain interconnectedness (like a web!) o Ask yourself: o Where did those causes come from? o causes as effects of other causes o Where do those effects go? o Effects as causes of other effects 5 WEB

BACKGROUND NO VACUUM: 6 EVENT CAUSE EFFECT

BACKGROUND NO COUPLES: o Also, causes & effects do not pair up like animals marching to Noah’s Ark o Causes & Effects have no 1:1 ratio o A cause does not have a corresponding effect o a “soul mate,” partner, companion, spouse o As a matter of fact, the idea of correspondence is doubtful itself o Hence, in an essay, you wouldn’t discuss in a single paragraph a cause-effect pair 7

BACKGROUND NO LINEARITY: o Nor do Causes & Effects regularly queue up to form a neat chronological line o this happened  which led to this  which led to this  … o What some call “causal chains” o Oftentimes, unrelated or independent causes coalesce to create a series of effects o Think “a perfect storm” o 3 separate storm systems converged to create one monster storm, which had disastrous consequences 8

BACKGROUND DEFINITIONS:CAUSESEFFECTS “Why did this happen?” Precede the event, condition, behavior Precipitating factors, roots, Motives, antecedents, bases, origins, sources, derivations Positive and/or Negative  More than one cause to an event, condition, behavior “What happened as a result of this?” Follow the event Consequences, results, outcomes Effects can become the causes of other events, conditions Positive and/or Negative  More than one effect to an event, condition, behavior 9

BACKGROUNDCAUSESEFFECTS Poor time management Irresponsibility Lack of money Broken gas gauge Unfamiliarity with new car Preoccupation with your relationship Thinking about writing your cause-effect essay Long walk home Late for work Pulled a muscle Fell in a ditch Ruined your favorite shoes Lost your (priceless) school notes and (overpriced) text books 10 EVENT: Your car ran out of gas on the way home from school.

BACKGROUND TYPES of CAUSES: o IMMEDIATE: o closest (in the causal chain) to the event o REMOTE: o in the past, back of the chain  These are temporal in nature. 11

BACKGROUND TYPES of CAUSES: o PRECIPITATING: o emerges as “last straw” o like “immediate” o but coexists in time with contributing o CONTRIBUTING: o background, leads up to event o like “remote” o but coexists with precipitating 12

BACKGROUND TYPES of CAUSES: o NECESSARY: o has to be present for an effect to occur o SUFFICIENT: o always produces (guarantees) an effect  These can both exist. 13

BACKGROUND PURPOSE: o Questions answered = o What happened and why? o What is happening and why? o What will happen and why? 14

BACKGROUND PURPOSE: o By tracing causes  we can o understand an event, condition, behavior o appreciate an (+) event, condition, behavior o replicate an (+) event, condition, behavior o assure that it happens again o prevent an (-) event from happening again 15

BACKGROUND PURPOSE: o By tracing effects  we can o persuade people to care about an issue o convince them to take some action o to address the problem o teach/learn a moral o life lesson o scientific truth o anthropological, sociological, psychological principle o replicate an (+) event, prevent an (-) event 16

BACKGROUND PURPOSE: o C&E and Proposal Arguments: o Before proposing a solution, look at causes. o Before attacking or supporting proposal, look at effects. o Before making a decision, look at effects. o C&E and Critical Thinking: o Forethought, foresight, o Prudence, precaution, planning o Consideration, conscientiousness 17

BACKGROUND Logical Fallacies and Causality: o Post hoc ergo propter hoc: o Precedence confused with causality o Chronology o Just because A precedes B, does not necessarily mean that A caused B. 18

BACKGROUND Logical Fallacies and Causality: o Hasty generalization: o Too few cases considered o Too little consideration of other causes, of alternative explanations (Occam’s Razor) o Overgeneralization: o “universal quantifier” = “all” o “existential quantifier” = “some” o OG = All of the blame falls on X. 19

BACKGROUND Logical Fallacies and Causality: o Oversimplification: o Reducing a complex situation to a single cause o Fallacy of Oversimplified Cause: o Multiple causes o Number of factors o No single cause 20

THE ENDTHE END 21

BACKGROUND EXPLANATION:CAUSEEFFECT root source antecedent motive (prior to the event) Consequence Outcome Result (after the event) 22

BACKGROUND CAUSES: EFFECTS: why something happened precede the event, condition, behavior precipitating factors roots, origins, basis, derivations “Why did this happen?” more than one cause to an event, condition positive and/or negative what happened follow the event consequences, results, outcomes “What happened as a result of this?” effects can become the causes of other events, conditions more than one effect to an event, condition positive and/or negative 23

BACKGROUNDCAUSESEFFECTS poor time management irresponsibility lack of money broken gas gauge unfamiliarity with new car preoccupation with your relationship thinking about writing your cause-effect essay long walk home late for work pulled a muscle fell in a ditch ruined your favorite shoes lost your school notes & overpriced textbooks EVENT: Your car ran out of gas on the way home from school. 24

BACKGROUND CAUSAL CHAINS: o follow the argument the author is making o put causes and then the effects in a sequence: a chronological or logical order o what led to what, to what, to what … o this happened  which led to this  which led to this  which led to this … o *purpose: by creating a causal chain, you can better understand the author’s argument you can better evaluate the author’s argument, logic, reasoning logical fallacies, breakdowns in logic become more evident 25