Yisela Gonzalez

April 8, 2014
Mathew Moberly
WRI 10
Reading Response
Part 1:
In their book, From Critical Thinking to Argument, Sylvan Barnet and Hugo
Bedau suggest that there is a major barrier to mutual interpersonal communication
because we tend to judge, evaluate, approve or disapprove a statement that a person or a
group gives. Barnet and Bedau support this idea by explaining their hypothesis to why
this happens and offering a solution. Barnet and Bedaus purpose is to step away from
being biased and taking into consideration someone elses opinion in order to be able to
give a good argument that is not selfish. They use professional way to communicate this
to their wide variety of readers.

Part 2:
1. In the first place it takes courage, a quality which is not too widespread.
-I liked reading this sentence a lot, because I feel like not many people realize this or
want to realize this. A lot of people are naive and dont open their mind to understanding
other people, because they dont have the courage to stand down.
2. Real communication occurs when we listen with understanding
-When communicating theres a difference between hearing and listening. When we hear
something its just a sound that goes in and out of our ears. When we listen we process
what we hear. Which is very distinct.
3. The first duty of a wise advocate is to convince his opponents that he
understands their arguments, and sympathizes with their just feelings.
-I agree that a good arguer is one who convinces his opponent by making them believe he
truly understands and feel the same way about whatever it may be they are talking about.
By that he then takes them down with those same feelings.

Part 3:
The writer begins by giving examples of ways to argue, he gives multiple ideas of
how someone may approach and argument. Then he gives Rogers way of approaching an
argumentative essay. Then they go on to talking about communication. They state that
our natural tendency to judge, evaluate, approve/disapprove someone idea is the major
barrier to mutual interpersonal communication. I agree with this because when someone
says something we immediately judge it even if we dont mean it in the wrong way.
There are two obstacles that are hard to overcome to allow us to be understanding; being
courage, and being emotional. Then the authors offer a checklist for analyzing Rogerian
argument. At last a sample of a letter to a southern Baptist minister is presented to look
over.

Part 4:
Medium: Printed book
Audience: Anyone
Purpose: Clarify the right way to argue, by understanding the other persons point of view,
getting on their level and convincing them they understand in order for the other person
to then believe them.

Part 5:
I felt like I could really connect to the reading when it talked about courage and
emotion and the fact that people are automatically judging something that someone says.
Because it is true, people do judge, but its part of nature we do it without even thinking.
With that said, it does take a lot of courage to realize you need to stop and give the other
person attention and hear what they have to say. Because sometimes you feel so strongly
about the topic that you dont even care to listen, no matter how educated you may be, it
does happen. Also I agree with the fact that emotion plays a big part to being hard
headed. We let our emotions get to us and dont put them aside as we should be.