JaKayla - Perelman arguments

JaKayla DaBera

Edgar Cayce on ESP - Pereleman

Argument type	Premises/Premise modifiers	Quote	Explanation
Coexistence - Prestige	Values – Universal ·         Health; well-being ·         Doctors are to be trusted Presence – Enthymeme ·         Implicit claim of credibility because of the doctor	“They [the doctors] waited, now, for the results of a telephone call the child’s father had just made to Edgar Cayce’s home… Because the doctors had experienced such telephone calls in the past, and knew the good that could come from them, they’d agreed to go along with whatever they were instructed to do.” (pg. 18)	This quote helps to establish some sort of prestige for Cayce. It does so by asserting his questionable credibility by namedropping in a way. We all consider doctors intelligent and capable individuals. If a medical doctor is willing to try what he is saying (and it works), then why wouldn’t the average person do so?. It also lends one to believe that there is a use for ESP in medicine and that it can be more reliable than medicine.
	Loci – Quantity ·         Vast knowledge ·         Remarkable collection of readings	“Many of the answers to these and other questions may be found in the remarkable collection of psychic readings given by an outstanding clairvoyant, Edgar Cayce …the scope of his psychic ability and of the subjects he treated while in a self-imposed hypnotic sleep are so vast that great portions of the knowledge they contain are still, as yet untapped.” Pg. 10	Again this is about claiming an argument’s truth based on the credibility or prestige of the individual. This is done in this passage by having a premise modifier there that insinuates that Cayce’s huge amounts of successful readings and his vast array of knowledge should convince you that he knows what he is talking about because his has a lot of experience and experience is what matters most the the audience.
	Values-abstract ·         Awareness of one’s purpose	“Serious study of the readings has brought me – through its complete involvement with matters concerning the human body, the human mind, and the human spirit-to a new awareness of man’s real purpose in the earth. Concentration on the vast scope, the universal nature of the Cayce readings, dealing as they do with past, present, and future, has broadened my respect for this most talented of all psychics.” Pg. 223	By claiming that Cayce’s ESP methodology could help explain man’s real purpose on Earth, the author is appealing to the belief that there is some otherworldy reason for everyone’s existencde. And this drive to discover that reason is the motivation for what we do. If Cayce has already been successful in figuring out a way to determine one’s purpose, he and his method should be taken seriously.
Comparison – Enthusiastic Present		“That some of the methods of treatment seem clumsy by today’s standards should not deter doctors of medicine, and doctors of psychology, from examining what Cayce has to say. As long as there are the tragedies of multiple sclerosis, arthritis, cancer, schizophrenia, drug addiction and other ills plaguing mankind, does orthodox medicine have a right to close the door on the possibility that Cayce was giving the true answers to these problems. Does the psychiatrist have a right to refuse to consider that man may have lived before, and that the reason he acts the way he does may be at least partially due to past experiences of other lifetimes?	This argument is kind of like a don’t knock it until you try it type of thing but it is also kind of stating that the present is better than the past especially since we have all of this proof of ESP working so why not just believe it already. Doctors have failed at curing these illnesses so we should be open to looking at alternative sources of information.

Life after death argument

Quasi-logical arguments

Perelman uses this chapter to talk about Quasi-Logical arguments, about how they are used in the real world and some examples about how they can be used. This chapter is mainly going through all the different types of Quasi-Logical arguments and describing them. It also uses a lot of complex words that confuse me to where i have to read them multiple times for me to understand them.

This Baffling World Argument

Argument Types	Evidence	Purpose
Establishing the Structure of Reality Illustration-Presence: Event strikes the imagination in connection with the rule	This is pretty much a story built on imagination.	To add elements to the story to make it more believable.
Establishing the Structure of Reality Example-Exception: Argument separating event/s and rules/realities.	There are four different stories.	So that the book as a whole seems more believable.

                                                                                                                            

Perleman's Arguments in 'How to Make ESP Work for You"

Argument Types	Premise	Example in the Text	Usage/Reflection
Succession	Facts/Truths-Supposed	“Great thinkers have left their marks upon civilization, contributing ideas and enlightenment which have continued to serve mankind.” Pg.23	First we have the argument type is a cause-and-effect argument. This section is saying that because these great thinkers have left this mark upon civilization, their ideas have continued to serve mankind and make the world better. The premise of it being supposed facts/truth is based on the fact that this is probable data. At this point in the book, we have no way of really knowing whether these “great thinkers” have make that much of an impact.
Comparison- Enthusiastic Present	Facts/Truth- Observed	“Followers of spiritual leaders such as Zoroaster, Lao-tse, Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, Moses, Christ, and others, have been led to believe that they cannot individually attain the inspired enlightenment and nature of their teachers. This feeling of disparity between the leader and his followers has been a most tragic deterrent to spiritual development and advancement.” Pg. 23	The argument type, enthusiastic present by comparison is especially apparent because Sherman is saying that all of these past spiritual leaders have given off the wrong message to their followers about not individually attaining the enlightenment of their teachers. According to Sherman, this is why the spiritual development segment has been lacking. This is the observed premise because noticing a difference in the advancement of spirituality proves that it had to come from somewhere.
Illustration- Presence	Presence- Metabole	“Those who understand the laws of mind know this to be true because, in the realm of mind, LIKE ALWAYS ATTRACTS LIKE. Reduced to one emphatic statement: HATE ALWAYS ATTRACTS HATE, AND LOVE ALWAYS ATTRACTS LOVE. Every spiritual leader throughout all time has declared the power of love and warned against the exercise of hate. As human creatures we have refused to take these admonitions to heart. Were this not so, the world, centuries ago, would have become a harmonious abode for all life upon it.” Pg. 24	The argument type, presence by means of illustration is painting the imaginary picture of someone who misunderstands the laws of mind in the realm of mind. Because of the admonitions of “like always attracts like”, and the fact that nobody has listened to that, we have missed out on a harmonious life. The premise of metabole through presence, is using synonymous expressions, which is being done with “hate always attracts hate” and “love always attracts love”. This is being done to prove the point of the realm of mind and the effect on us.

Our Haunted Planet

Fallacy	Slippery slope	A series of steps in a casual chain and the support/probabilities for each is omitted in an argument that A basically causes Z.	Use of probable data about Ultraterrestials as well as the many parts that do not connect very well with one another such as the Men in Black causes the idea that there is more to this planet, “Our Haunted Planet”
Premise	Facts/Truths (Supposed)	Probable data	“Since the beginning of recorded time, man and his world have been plagued by unknown forces and beings, baffled by archaeological phenomena, and haunted by prophecies that often came true.” (Back of Book)
Premise Modifier	Amplifications	Divide whole into parts	Here evidence of: ·      Advanced civilizations existing thousands of years before the cave man ·      The strange Men in Black ·      People who vanish and reappear within hours in another part of the world ·      Appearances of angel and demigods who appear and make startling predictions that never come true (Back of book)
Quasi-logical argument	Inclusion	Treating something as a part of a larger whole	“The indigenous natives of the Americas, Africa, and the Pacific all adopted ceremonial dress patterned after the garb of the ultraterrestials, just as the robes and trappings of the early churches of the white man were patterned after the dress of the angels and gods who allegedly visited them.” “All human art began as part of our urge to pay tribute to them. The arts of painting and sculpture, the arts of drama and dance, and of course, the art of storytelling, were all products of that urge.” (Pg. 131)
Based on the structure of reality	Direction	Doing B will slippery slope to D	Pg. 131

Our Haunted Planet 

Through the use of the premise and premise modifiers over supposed facts/truths and amplifications, the arguments of inclusion and direction can be made by Perelman's work. The book uses probable data and division of things revolving around extraterrestrial activity to strengthen the arguments being made within the book. Inclusion is found throughout the book where two completely different types of people and cultures are compared and a questionable thesis is made for how and why a certain acts due to ultraterrestials that we know nothing about. This connection that is trying to be made is what allows for direction to be used as a way to argue the point about ultraterrestials. "Due to western culture dressing a certain way due to angels and gods then non westerners must have picked up their way of ceremonial dress from these supposed ultraterrestials." Making this book hard to find true to believe that there is a extraterrestrial species that has been helping man kind along the way and also how certain cultures that we know nothing about got there culture from (if not from a certain religion that we are familiar with, then it must be not form this world argument).