1. New Unit, New Teams! Please sit by your teammates.
McKenna K., Rob, Sam, Sydney
Regina, Logan, Kyle M., Dylan
Collin W., Jacqui, Kyle V., Remy
Lexie, Dillon, Nolan, Vidas
Macy, Luke, McKenna B., Tanner
Ryan, Rico, Joe, Colin G.
New Unit, New Teams!

2. Assessing cause & effect Identifying fallacies
Day 18 of English 15

3. Causal Arguments Evaluation: What is its quality?
Proposal: What to do about it?
Causation: What caused it?
Evaluation: What is its quality?
Definition: What is its nature?
Fact: Does it exist? Did it happen? Is it true?

4. 3 Types of Causal Arguments1 2 3
3 Types of Causal Arguments

5. Tracing Effect to Causes
(EA 245-6) Do you understand the causes of the following phenomena well enough to spell them out to someone else? Explain the causes.
earthquakes/tsunamis
popularity of the Transformers films
popularity of Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift or the band Wolf Alice
swelling caused by a bee sting
Cold War
sharp rise in cases of autism or asthma
Edward Snowden’s leak of CIA documents
climate change
Ebola crisis in western Africa
Tracing Effect to Causes

6. Causal Arguments Often part of other arguments
Proposals
Complex – rarely a single cause or consequence
Explore!
Often based on definitions
Define your phenomenon
Yield probable rather than absolute conclusions
Use qualifiers
Causal Arguments

7. Project #4: Proposal Film
STEP 1:
Choose your issue. Locate a local issue of limited scope that you wish to resolve—for example, the curriculum of your high school’s “Health” class; the hygiene in your dorm building; or the social environment at your workplace. Avoid general problems like climate change, racism, and poverty, because they are impossible to comprehensively address in a short video
Project #4: Proposal Film

8. Got a problem? Mom’s diet soda addiction
Defunding of arts in Philadelphia’s schools
Overcrowding at Penn State’s gyms
Inequity in GPA calculation at Huntingdon Area HS
Secondhand smoke on campus
Cheating in large Penn State classes
Plastic waste in dining commons
Sleep deprivation of Penn State freshmen
Burnout of youth softball players
Rift between Grosse Pointe and Detroit schools
Lack of driver’s ed at Manheim Central HS
Heroin epidemic among Upper St. Clair teens
Turf grass erosion on campus
Lack of cybersecurity training at Liberty HS
Got a problem?

9. Write a brief causal argument about a phenomenon you consider problematic—ideally, one you’d consider using for Project #4. For instance,
What accounts for the high amount of fast food served on campus at Penn State?
What are the likely consequences of my high school’s failure to offer a driver’s education course?
How does the arrangement of LEAP affect the way my cohort and I learn?
Why don’t more students visit campus facilities like the art museum, spiritual center, and cultural center?
Explore the potential—and probably multiple—causes and consequences of the phenomenon you call into question.
PE #7: Causal Analysis

10. Starting PE #7 Use EA 248-9 to guide your analysis
Make a list of either…
phenomena you’d like to know the causes of
phenomena you’d like to know the effects of
Choose one phenomenon
Map out the causal relationship(s)
X might cause (or be caused by) Y for the following reasons:
Reason 1…2…3
X might also cause (or be caused by) Y for the following reasons:
Starting PE #7

11. Fallacies of Argument
Be true to your pathos, ethos,
and logos!

12. bookofbadarguments.com

13. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc
Respond Activity on EA 254
Because causal arguments can easily fall prey to faulty causality, you might find it instructive to create and defend an absurd connection of this kind.
Begin by asserting a causal link between two events or phenomena that likely have no relationship: The enormous popularity of Doctor Who is partially due to global warming. 
Then spend a page or so spinning out an imaginative argument to defend the claim. It’s OK to have fun with this exercise, but see how convincing you can be at generating plausibly implausible arguments.
Post hoc, ergo propter hoc

14. bookofbadarguments.com

15. bookofbadarguments.com

16. 1 2
Artist 2 completely misrepresented the colorful, energetic toucan. Later, Artist 2 showed people her painting and complained about how dull and lifeless the toucan had looked. From bookofbadarguments.com

17. Identifying Fallacies
Refer to EA Ch. 5 (71-86): Fallacies of Argument
Canvas Page
Identifying Fallacies

18. Fun with Fallacies Write an example of your rhetorical fallacy.
Share it with your team without saying which rhetorical fallacy it represents.
Teammates try to identify the fallacy or at least the appeal it abuses: emotional, ethical, or logical.
If they can’t guess it, disclose the fallacy’s name, and explain why your statement exemplifies that type.
Fun with Fallacies