causes and effects 1: the rhetorical strategy part 1: the rhetorical strategy
TRANSCRIPT
CAUSESCAUSESandand
EFFECTSEFFECTS
Part 1:1:
THE RHETORICAL STRATEGYTHE RHETORICAL STRATEGY
BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
BACKGROUND:o To reinforce the complexity & non-linearity
o Of Causality & Consequence
o To rectify certain misconceptionso concerning Causality & Consequence
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
NO OVERSIMPLIFICATION:o a cause often has more than 1 effecto an effect often has more than 1 causeo 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 webs3
BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
NO OVERSIMPLIFICATION:o Life is too complex, too complicatedo 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
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
NO VACUUM:o Further, no event happens in a vacuum
o unrelated or unconnected to any other situationo 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 causeso Where do those effects go?
o Effects as causes of other effects5WEB
BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
NO VACUUM:
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EVENTCAUSE
CAUSE
CAUSEEFFECT
EFFECT
EFFECT
BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
NO COUPLES:o Also, causes & effects do not pair up like
animals marching to Noah’s Arko Causes & Effects have no 1:1 ratioo A cause does not have a corresponding
effecto a “soul mate,” partner, companion, spouseo 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 pair7
BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
NO LINEARITY:o Nor do Causes & Effects regularly queue up
to form a neat chronological lineo 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 effectso Think “a perfect storm”
o 3 separate storm systems converged to create one monster storm, which had disastrous consequences
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
DEFINITIONS:
CAUSESCAUSES EFFECTSEFFECTS• “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
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
CAUSESCAUSES EFFECTSEFFECTS• 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
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EVENT: Your car ran out of gas on the way home from school.
BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
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.
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
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 evento like “remote” o but coexists with precipitating
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
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.
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
PURPOSE:o Questions answered =
o What happened and why?o What is happening and why?o What will happen and why?
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
PURPOSE:o By tracing causes we can
o understand an event, condition, behavioro appreciate an (+) event, condition, behavioro replicate an (+) event, condition, behavior
o assure that it happens againo prevent an (-) event from happening again
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
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 problemo teach/learn a moral
o life lessono scientific trutho anthropological, sociological, psychological
principleo replicate an (+) event, prevent an (-) event
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
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, planningo Consideration, conscientiousness
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
Logical Fallacies and Causality:o Post hoc ergo propter hoc:
o Precedence confused with causalityo Chronology o Just because A precedes B, does not
necessarily mean that A caused B.
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
Logical Fallacies and Causality:o Hasty generalization:
o Too few cases consideredo 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.
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
Logical Fallacies and Causality:o Oversimplification:
o Reducing a complex situation to a single cause
o Fallacy of Oversimplified Cause:o Multiple causeso Number of factorso No single cause
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THE ENDTHE END
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
EXPLANATION:
CAUSECAUSE EFFECTEFFECT• root• source• antecedent• motive• (prior to the event)
• Consequence• Outcome• Result
• (after the event)
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
CAUSESCAUSES:: EFFECTSEFFECTS::• 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
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
CAUSESCAUSES EFFECTSEFFECTS• 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.
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BACKGROUNDBACKGROUND
CAUSAL CHAINS:o follow the argument the author is makingo 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
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