...Recognize principles that underlie legal reasoning and argument There are several principles that underlie legal reasoning and argument. The first two are probably the most common and easily digestible in supporting an argument. These two principles of moral reasoning are the consistent and inconsistencies of principle; principle consistency establishes framework for repetitive pattern. What is presented is identical in all instances and shows no differences in relevant way; therefore the outcome should always be the same (Cheesebro, 2010). Second principle occurs when it appears violations are occurring with the consistency principle, which then bears a burden of proof is the person claiming such act (Cheesebro, 2010). If at work all employees were afforded their birthday off with the exception of one, then this would be a violation of the consistency principle and the burden of proof is easily delivered. When it comes to arguments, jurist and attorneys uses deductive and inductive reasoning; if deductive, the reasoning can be sound, valid, or invalid; and if indicative, it can range from strong to weak (Cheesebro, 2010). Arguments in court are submitted with a precedent case as a foundation to present a winning argument; this is the appeal to precedent (Cheesebro, 2010). According to “Case Briefs” (2015) website sites the Rule of Law where as “Statutes that make criminal all abortions except when medically advised for the purpose of saving the life of the mother are...
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...Session 2 The Intelligence Process Information is material of every description, including that derived from observations, surveillance, reports, rumors, and other sources. The information itself may be true or false, accurate or inaccurate, confirmed or unconfirmed, relevant or irrelevant. Although the intelligence process requires that information be stored, organized, and retrieved, the production of intelligence requires much more. Intelligence is the product resulting from the collection, evaluation and interpretation of information. Thus, intelligence can be viewed as information to which something has been added. The something added is the result of analysis—an explanation of what the information means. Intelligence may be general or specialized in nature. General intelligence focuses on a broad range of criminal activities, typically in smaller agencies or jurisdictions. Specialized intelligence focuses on a particular type of criminal activity or entity, such as narcotics, industrial espionage, or organized crime. Intelligence has both tactical and strategic applications. Tactical intelligence is directed towards a short term law enforcement objective or active case, with an immediate impact in mind—arrest, forfeiture, seizure. Strategic intelligence deals with larger, more long-term issues and goals, such as the identification of major criminal individuals or syndicates, projections of growth in types of criminal activity, and the establishment...
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...FIRAC- Legal Writing Students, I did a quick google search to help assist you with legal writing. We briefly touched on FIRAC and I just wanted to make sure everyone understood what I was saying. If you want to see examples, google "FIRAC" or "IRAC" for assistance. Please read: FIRAC stands for Facts, Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion. It is one way to structure legal analysis. An effective essay (no matter the overall length) follows some form of the FIRAC structure where it is organized around each of these elements for each and every issue and subissue identified as a legal problem. FIRAC is an extremely useful tool in organizing any law related essay answer. It is not the only way to structure an answer, but it helps to make sure all bases are covered. So, until you achieve the level of mental and written fluency where you can weave together rule and fact in a seamless tapestry and transition between thoughts without loss of either the substance or your reader, you might choose to rely on some form of FIRAC to keep focused. Use FIRAC as tool for organizing your thinking and your writing. F - Facts What facts give rise to the dispute? Include the facts essential to the story such as names, dates, and acts, plus all other facts that make a difference—that is, what facts if changed might lead to a different result. I - Issue What is the disagreement implicated by the facts? Make your issue statement as specific as possible to the particular dispute. The issue...
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...The Case Study PSYC 210: Developmental Psychology Spring D 2015 Antonio Robinson L270221508 APA In the case study presented, a situation was highlighted in which a child’s impulsivity caused a deadly outcome to occur. Observance of behavioral experiments and theories, over the years, has given the understanding that a child’s behavior is influenced by what they see, hear, and are taught from other children and adults. As brain functioning develops, children learn how to process simple thoughts and emotions into more complex reasoning skills. They will also become more experienced, thoughtful, and less impulsive as they mature. Children will experience multiple stages of development and growth until they finally reach adulthood. In the case of the 6 year old mentioned above, the child cannot be held responsible for the crime that was committed because the factors that determine brain development and functioning have not fully matured. Legally, no child under the age of 7 can be held accountable for their actions until all of the biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial portions of brain and behavioral functioning have fully matured. First of all, the biosocial aspect of development in early childhood relates to brain development and thought processes. A majority of the brain is already present and operational by age 2 (Berger, 2014, p.219), however, the prefrontal cortex of the brain is considered to be the last part to mature. This region of the brain helps with...
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...CLAT 2013- The Countdown begins The countdown for the Common Law Admission test (CLAT 2013) has begun. With less than 50 days left for CLAT, which is the stepping stone for the National Law Universities across the country, the anxiety amongst the students is rising. Gyan Central caught up with Saiyed Anzar Abbas, founder of CLATapult, one of the premier coaching institutes for CLAT, to ask him about his views and tips for students appearing in CLAT 2013. GC- Congratulations Anzar for the immense success of your brainchild-CLATpult. Anzar- Thank you very much. This success is mainly attributed to the dedication and support of all my friends and well wishers. The true success of CLATapult shall be reflected in the CLAT 2013 results in which I am confident that the students of CLATapult would pass with flying colors. GC- The first question which comes to the mind of any student who is contemplating to start preparation for CLAT 2013 is whether 50 days is an adequate time period for preparation for CLAT. Anzar- CLAT, unlike other exams like the IIT-JEE or AIEEE, is not an examination which requires dedicated study for a period of years together. CLAT requires dedicated study for a shorter duration as compared to other examinations. Though 50 days is a very short time period, it still is not inadequate for the preparation for CLAT. 50 days of immense hard work, dedication and sincerity is enough to guarantee a student to crack CLAT 2013. GC- With the board examinations going...
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...Critical Thinking Listening to a seminar/webinar, having to change an organization’s policy, hiring new personnel – all require critical thinking. Just about everybody has used critical thinking in his or her decision making at one time; perhaps without realizing it. If managers do not use critical thinking, they could make a wrong decision and react without thinking. Knowing the difference between critical thinking and decision making is vital in making wise decisions. In this paper, I will explain how I perceive critical thinking, along with brief descriptions on the traits of a critical thinker. Definition “Critical thinking is the art of thinking about thinking while thinking in order to make thinking better.” Three interwoven phases are involved with critical thinking: 1. It analyzes thinking “by focusing on the parts of thinking in any situation—its purpose, question, information, inferences, assumptions, concepts, implications, and point of view.” 2. It evaluates thinking “by figuring out its strengths and weaknesses: the extent to which it is clear, accurate, precise, relevant, deep, broad, logical, significant, and fair.” 3. It improves thinking “by building on its strengths while reducing its weaknesses.” (Paul, Richard and Elder, Linda 2006) A critical thinker must be willing to take apart his or her idea. How does it stand up to facts? How will it be translated? Do others understand it effectively? Is it biased, prejudiced, partial, distorted...
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...C H A P T E R 12 Evaluate Your Argument on the Issue In this chapter you will learn how to identify and overcome errors in reasoning. This is a special step that applies only to issues because resolving issues involves finding the most reasonable belief. Two broad kinds of errors are examined—errors affecting the truth of your ideas and errors affecting the quality of your reasoning. A step-by-step approach to evaluate arguments is also included. ecause your main objective in addressing an issue is not to find the most effective action but to determine the most reasonable belief, your main task in refining an issue is to evaluate your argument to be sure that it is free of error. Two broad kinds of error must be considered. The first affects the truth of the argument’s premises or assertions. The second affects the argument’s validity— that is, the legitimacy of the reasoning by which the conclusion was reached. A sound argument is both true and valid. B ■ ERRORS AFFECTING TRUTH Errors affecting truth are found by testing the accuracy of the premises and the conclusion as individual statements. The first and most common error in this category is simple factual inaccuracy. If we have investigated the issue properly and have taken care to verify our evidence whenever possible, such errors should not be present. We will therefore limit our consideration to the more subtle and common errors: ISBN 1-256-46689-1 • • • • Either/or thinking Avoiding the issue Overgeneralizing...
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...thinking is "the art of thinking about your thinking while you are thinking in order to make your thinking better: more clear, more accurate, or more defensible", Paul, Binker, Adamson, and Martin (1989). Critical thinking is best understood as the ability of thinkers to take charge of their own thinking. This requires that they develop sound criteria and standards for analyzing and assessing their own thinking and routinely use those criteria and standards to improve its quality. According to Michael, "Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness”. Benefits of critical thinking The quality of our life and that of what we produce depends on our thought. Critical thinking helps us to...
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...as a short, wide glass. A parenting example would be when a child leaves the door open in winter time. It does not do any good to tell the child that he is leaving the heat go outside. A parent should only teach the child to close the door. Concrete operational (7-11 yrs.) Children in this stage use operation in logical thinking in concrete situation. They become less egocentric and can see things from other’s perspectives. They also develop a concrete understanding of conservation: A child can see water poured into a glass and remember that it was in a pitcher (Sigelman & Rider, 2012, p. 221). However, the child is still tied to the immediate experience and may have difficulty with abstract terms or scientific and deductive reasoning. They are limited to the own conclusions (Todd, Jean Piaget on Development). A parent can expect a...
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...Wed, May 05, 2010 -- 104PA67270: Getting ready for the midterm Let me provide some tips for the midterm. I have extended the time to three hours instead of the two hours stated on the syllabus. First, this is an essay exam and so discussions should be should be full and clearly written. All answers should be at least a (normal) page long. Second, do plan to use the full time. You may not need it but some of you may find that you would like even more time. I recommend that you enter the exam promptly since I will make deductions for those exceeding the 9:00 o'clock end time even if you enter late. Third, know that the legal reasoning essay will come from Module 4 on immunity. The variety of scenarios in that question will force you to think about and explain the nuances between sovereign and personal immunity, between absolute and qualified immunity, about loss of immunity, etc. You will want to understand all four cases from that module well before the exam. I will expect specific citations to the cases and the principles that they enunciate. An additional case that might be useful for you to look at is Canton v. Harris. A second question will address the rulemaking process and the principles underlying it. You should "walk into" the exam (in a virtual sense) with a clear sense of a fully articulated rulemaking process, so that you can pick and choose elements as appropriate in the case you will be presented. The third question will be drawn from the text regarding...
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...Chapter 9 Using Past History Explicitly as Knowledge: Case-Based Reasoning Systems Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall Additional material © 2008 Dekai Wu Chapter Objectives • Introduce the student to the concept of using explicit historical occurrences to solve current problems. Explained in the context of rule-based systems that also use past experience to solve current problems • Introduce case-based reasoning. • Introduce how case-based systems can learn from their own experience Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall / Additional material © 2008 Dekai Wu Weaknesses of rule-based systems • Weaknesses of rule-based systems that inspired the rise of case-based reasoning: Experts may not be able to externalize their experience into clean bits of knowledge that can be encoded into rules Their knowledge is an accumulation and a combination of years of being exposed to many instances of similar problems (and their subsequent solutions) Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management 1/e -- © 2004 Prentice Hall / Additional material © 2008 Dekai Wu Weaknesses of rule-based systems • To manage the knowledge of experts, we must: Elicit it from the expert Represent or formalize it in a form suitable for computing Validate and verify the knowledge • All these contain pitfalls for the rule-based systems approach Becerra-Fernandez, et al. -- Knowledge Management...
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...Presentation of the facts surrounding the case. 1. Identification of the key issues. 2. Listing of alternative courses of action that could be taken. 3. Evaluation of alternative courses of action. 4. Recommendation of the best course of action. Presentation of the Facts Surrounding the Case It is helpful to read a case until you are comfortable with the information in it. Re-readings often are an aid to comprehending facts, possible strategies, or questions that need clarification and were not apparent earlier. In studying a case, assume you are a retail consultant hired by the firm. While facts should be accepted as true, statements, judgments, and decisions made by the individuals in a case should be questioned, especially if not supported by facts-or when one individual disagrees with another. During your reading of the case, you should underline crucial facts, interpret figures and charts, critically review the comments made by individuals, judge the rationality of past and current decisions, and prepare questions whose answers would be useful in addressing the key issue(s). Identification of the Key Issue(s) The facts stated in a case often point to the key issue(s) facing a retailer, such as new opportunities, a changing environment, a decline in competitive position, or excess inventories. Identify the characteristics and ramifications of the issue(s) and examine them, using the material in the case and the text. Sometimes, you must delve deeply...
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...Logical Reasoning The Logical Reasoning Section The focus of this book is on the Logical Reasoning section of the LSAT, and each Logical Reasoning section contains a total of 24 to 26 questions. Since you have thirty-five minutes to complete the section, you have an average of approximately one minute and twenty-five seconds to complete each question. Of course, the amount of time you spend on each question will vary with the difficulty of each question and the total number of questions per section. For virtually all students the time constraint is a major obstacle, and as we progress through this book we will discuss time management techniques as well as time-saving techniques that you can employ within the section. The Section Directions Each Logical Reasoning section is prefaced by the following directions: “The questions in this section are based on the reasoning contained in brief statements or passages. For some questions, more than one of the choices could conceivably answer the question. However, you are to choose the best answer; that is, the response that most accurately and completely answers the question. You should not make assumptions that are by commonsense standards implausible, superfluous, or incompatible with the passage. After you have chosen the best answer, blacken the corresponding space on your answer sheet.” On average, you have 1 minute and 25 seconds to complete each question. Because these directions precede every Logical Reasoning section...
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...into categorizing the different definitions, one should note that definitions are merely definitions of symbols, this is because only symbols have meanings that may be explained. There are mainly five types of definitions used, all of which relying on how and in what context they are used (Copi, Cohen and Mcmahon). Stipulative definition A definition with a meaning purposefully assigned to a symbol is most often termed as a Stipulative definition (Copi, Cohen and Mcmahon). In numerous instances, a discussion may progress when all parties in the discussion agree to use a particular term in the same context throughout the conversation. Suppose, for example my teammates and I conclude to use murder only in the definition provided for it in legal matters, “first degree murder”. That means for the sake of that particular discussion we may only use “murder” in cases where there is a premeditated intention to murder. Thus, eradicating killing in self-defense and manslaughter as “murder”. Since explaining terms in this manner relies heavily on consensual agreement, there is no way for such definitions to be wrong (Hall). A symbol assigned a definition in a Stipulative manner did not have that meaning prior to it being assigned that meaning by the definition, therefore the definition it now has cannot be an account of the terms definition. The most important benefit of stipulating definitions is that it minimizes ambiguity. By reducing the emotive role of language, and by simplifying...
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...5/26/2014 Topics to be covered today: FHEL 1012 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC STUDY Lecture 1 Critical Reading Skills 1 Barriers to Critical Thinking Making inferences and drawing conclusions Identifying themes and main ideas of texts 2 Aims of Lecture 1 The main goal is to develop in students the skills and the confidence to approach a piece of academic text, read it efficiently and critically, and extract main ideas and key details. But the goal of academic reading is more than just retrieve information. It is also the development of academic writing. Assessment for EAS Assignment 1 (Written) Assignment 2 (Presentation) Mid Term (Week 6 or 7) Final Exam 20% 15% 15% 50% 3 4 WHAT DO YOU FIRST SEE? 5 6 1 5/26/2014 7 8 WHAT DO YOU SEE AND BELIEVE? Seeing is not believing. An idea should be formed based on valid evidences and unbiased perception. However, other perceptions and interpretations are possible. Acceptance of other opinions. To think CRITICALLY! BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING… 9 10 Barriers to Critical Thinking (Why do people find Critical Thinking so difficult? What prevents people from thinking critically?) 1. Egocentrism - inability to see other people’s viewpoint - focus on self: I, ME, MYSELF selfish 1. Egocentrism 2. Sociocentrism 3. Unwarranted Assumptions and Stereotyping 4. Relativistic Thinking 5. Wishful Thinking 11 12 2 5/26/2014 Two common forms of Egocentrism...
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