Beyond Feelings - Vincent Ruggiero.original_ [79]
One of the reasons crime is so rampant in our society is that we put too much emphasis on determining why the criminal committed the crime and whether the police treated the criminal fairly. Those are important matters, but there are other equally important ones that seem to be neglected lately – like protecting law-abiding people from dangerous, irresponsible people and making punishments severe enough to deter crime. We cringe at primitive societies' handling of crime – for example, cutting off a thief's hands or a perjurer's tongue. But at last such punishments reflect a recognition that crime is an outrage against society that should not be tolerated. I am not suggesting that we return to such a standard of justice, only that we get tough with criminals. Two steps that would provide a good start would be setting determinate sentences for crimes instead of giving judges the wide latitude they now enjoy and refusing to let legal technicalities set aside a conviction when a person is clearly guilty.
Every year there is at least one major scandal involving a college athlete illegally accepting money from the coaching staff, alumni or other supporters of the team. In recent years the number of scandals seems to be increasing. The best way to eliminate this problem is to discard the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) prohibition against playing for pay. Athletes get paid for their efforts at the professional level. There is no good reason to make them wait until graduation to be rewarded for their talents. The coaches are paid a salary and the colleges often receive substantial sums of money from television rights to games. Only the athletes, the ones mainly responsible for generating the income, are deprived of financial gain. By continuing its archaic rule, the NCAA is being both unfair and hypocritical.
Group discussion exercise: Select one of the issues in application 2 and discuss it with two or three classmates. Be sure to use the approach described at the beginning of this chapter. Try to reach a consensus on the issue. Be prepared to present your idea(s) to the class.
P3-C21-5
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
FORMING JUDGMENTS
Judgments are conclusions arrived at through examination of evidence and careful reasoning. They are the products of thinking. Unlike feelings, judgments are not spontaneous and unconscious. They may of course, contain elements of the spontaneous – such as intuition – but, like other data, these have first been weighed and evaluated.
The fact that judgments are products of evaluation and reasoning does not guarantee their worth. There are foolish judgments as well as wise, superficial as well as penetrating. A judgment can easily reflect misconceptions about truth, knowing, and opinion. Or it can involve one or more of the errors in thinking detailed in Chapters 6 through 15.
The strategy we have discussed for thinking critically about issues is designed to promote thoughtful judgments. By knowing ourselves and being observant, we improve our perception and guard against error. By systematically clarifying issues, conducting inquiry, interpreting evidence, and analyzing viewpoints, we rescue our thinking form preconceived notions and first impressions.
The act of expressing a judgment can alter it. Therefore, however clear our judgments may seem in our minds, it is best to consider them formless until we have expressed them in words. These guidelines will help you express your judgments effectively:
Strive for a Balanced View
Deal with Probability
Make Your Subject Appropriately Specific
Make Your Predicate Exact
Include All Appropriate Qualifications
Avoid Exaggeration
Let's look more closely at each of these guidelines.
STRIVE FOR A BALANCED VIEW