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Assignments

LP3 Assignment: Distinctions
This assignment will assess the following Course Objective: 3. Prepare to be a critical reader, listener, and viewer.

Directions: Write a brief essay using the following format:
Answer the question below in no less than one page and no more than two pages. The assignment should be submitted using Microsoft Word with default margins, using 12 point Times New Roman black font, be double-spaced, and be in essay format. Consult the class text while researching and writing the answer.

Default Margin Formatting:
Alignment: Left
Outline Level: Body Text
Indentation: Left & Right: 0
Special: None
By: Leave blank
Spacing: Before & After: 0
Line Spacing: Double
At: Leave blank
Don’t add space between paragraphs of same style: Do not ‘check’

* REFER to the LP3 textbook to answer the following questions:
1. LIST and DEFINE the six 'Making Important Distinctions' from the Art of Thinking reading for this Learning Plan.

2. SELECT two of them (your choice) and provide an example, of each, to demonstrate your understanding of the material.

Submit this assignment to your instructor via the dropbox “LP3 Assignment: Distinctions." This assignment is worth 70 points and will be graded according to the scoring guide below.

Making Important Distinctions

Here are six kinds of distinctions that frequently are necessary to avoid faulty evaluations:

1. Between the person and the idea. It’s easy to confuse the person with the idea. Just as we tend to overlook the faults of our friends and exaggerate those of our enemies, so do we tend to look favorably on the ideas of people we like or admire and unfavorably on those we dislike or do not admire. Similarly, we tend to disregard the ideas of people who we feel ought not to have ideas on certain subjects— for example, white scholars on African American history or men on women’s issues. Such reactions are irrational because ideas are not synonymous with the people who hold them. Admirable people can be wrong, and despicable people can be right. Furthermore, a person’s gender, color, nationality, or religion is not a proper basis for accepting or rejecting his or her ideas. It is possible for a man to be an authority on feminism (or for that matter to be a feminist), a white scholar to have insights about African American history, and a Chinese Buddhist to make a valuable contribution to the subject of American Protestantism. Therefore, we should make a conscious effort to keep our analyses of ideas separate from our feelings about the people who hold them.

1. Between what is said and how it is said. Style and substance are quite different matters. Unfortunately, the person with the clearest and most graceful expression does not always have the soundest idea. So, although it is natural for us to be impressed by eloquent writers or speakers, it’s unwise to assume that their ideas are necessarily sound. As Saint Augustine said, “Our concern with a man is not with what eloquence he teaches, but with what evidence.”

1. Between why people think as they do and whether what they think is correct. It’s common to judge people’s motives for thinking and acting as they do. Although such judging is sometimes rash, at other times it is very helpful. Finding out that a senator has connections with the handgun manufacturing industry, for example, raises interesting questions about the senator’s opposition to gun control laws. But it is important for us to remember that unworthy motivations do not necessarily contaminate the position. The soundness of an idea doesn’t depend on the motivations of those who support it. It depends on how well the idea fits the realities of the situation.

1. Between the individual and the group or class. The individual person or thing may differ from the group or class in one or more significant respects. Therefore, the characteristics of the individual should not be carelessly attributed to the group, or vice versa.

1. Between matters of preference and matters of judgment. Matters of preference concern taste, which it is pointless to debate. However, matters of judgment concern interpretations of fact and theory, which are debatable. It is therefore appropriate to question matters of judgment.

1. Between familiarity and correctness. To respond less guardedly to the familiar than to the unfamiliar is natural. Yet familiar ideas are not necessarily correct. Accordingly, when judging correctness, we should disregard the familiarity or unfamiliarity of the idea. Then we will be open to insights from both sides of issues, not just from the side we favor.