Unit 1: ICW Ch 1 (January 14, 2009)

What you found new, interesting, or surprising about Chapter 1. Well, the main point of interest in chapter 1 was that everything's an argument. When I first read the title of the book, I was thinking, "Yea right. Everything CAN'T be an argument." I must say that my mind is definitely changed. Chapter 1 broke down all the different types of arguments that surround us on a day-to-day basis. For example, everything from the clothes you choose to the sign you read when crossing a street is an argument in some form or fashion. It was also fascinating that the connotation of argument in the book is more positive than what is usually associated with the word.

There were many more types of argument pointed out in the chapter than I even thought was possible. Arguments about the past (forensic arguments), present (epideictic arguments), and future (deliberative arguments). There are arguments to convince, explore, inform, to make decisions, and even ones to meditate or pray. All of which I wasn't aware of until reading about them. It is surprising that now I know about them, I do pick up on the arguments that are around us.

What did I resist? Well, I was very resistive to the whole concept that everything is an argument. I didn't really start to believe it until I was more than halfway through the first chapter of reading. I still have trouble seeing the argument being made in some things. For example, one of the pictures of an "argument" is a sign for a hurricane shelter. I still haven't quite figured out where the argument is in that. The book calls signs and ads, as well as other things, "arguments to inform." I will admit that they do inform people and that they are necessary due to this fact. I guess my mind is resistant to the idea that all the signs I see are making an argument.