Chapter 7 titled “Counter-arguments” was a short chapter which discussed “Raising Objections” and “Refuting an Argument.” What I first learned when I began reading the chapter was that, “raising objections is a standard way to show that an argument is bad.” By raising an objective, you are creating another argument that can prove a premise to be false or show how a premise can be weak. Take for instance the premises;
Everyone should use public transportation.
Using public transportation will decrease traffic.
Using public transportation will be safer and reduce the amount of drivers on the road that uses their cell phone while driving.
Public transportation is cheaper and will reduce pollution from cars.
An objective would be; “Public transportation doesn’t travel as fast as a person would driving a car.” Another objective that could be raised is; "Some people would rather carpool than pay a bus fare and also busses, trolleys, and trains don’t run 24/7 for those who work at night or early mornings."
Another concept I learned about is strawman. This is where a person tries to refute a claim by putting words in the person’s mouth that made the claim. An example would be; Mike is against the legalization of marijuana. Clearly he does not like people who smoke weed.
Your objections for public transportation. Personally, I am for public transportation because I use it myself, but your objections do apply. Sometimes, I am actually late for school because taking the bus can actually be slower than someone driving a car. And it's also true that some people would prefer carpooling. Not only do they not run for 24/7 and cost money, but they can also be dangerous as well. Anyways, only reason why I take the bus to school is because SJSU gives us those free bus passes. If we never had those bus passes, then i would probably be driving or carpooling instead.
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