Flunkme.com - Free Essays

All eyes were focused on me. This was it. The tension had been building up to this point, and I knew there was no way out. I had gotten myself into this predicament, and I was the only one that could get myself out of it. There was nobody to turn to, for they were all waiting for my final move. I had never felt so alone, so isolated.

I thumbed through my cards for the fourth consecutive time, and I could still not decide which one to throw. I glanced up from my cards and caught a glimpse of each player. I immediately felt the intensity of my brother’s eyes glaring at me from across the table. He did not provide me with the support and reassurance I was looking for from my partner. I shifted my eyes to the right. My mother, having just discarded a five of clubs and seeing that it was of no use to me, was sipping coffee with a carefree grin of relief. Then I peered directly at the most intimidating canasta player I have ever encountered. Great Grandma Rose was calmly humming a tuneless tune which added to her enigma. As this crafty eighty-eight year old lady squinted at her cards through her bifocals, I knew that time was running out; I had to make my decision. The most obvious choice was to discard the king of spades for which I had no use, but I was afraid that she was waiting for this card. My alternative was to break up my meld and throw the six of clubs, a card which I felt somewhat safe in throwing.

Everyday people employ the use of logic to help them clarify or solve problems. Logic may only provide validity or highly probable ideas, but the correct answer, if any, is left for one to decide. The science of thinking and rationalizing, logic is like a double-edge sword. When logic is utilized it may become an efficient tool, capable of discovering correct ideas and understandings. Yet, it can also become an unsolvable maze, causing more confusion than clarity. There are certain methods of logic to determine possible solutions for a problem and to verify them. Induction and deduction are arguments that may give a solution, which is not considered absolutely true but rather having correct reasoning. For logic can only determine “the distinction between correct and incorrect reasoning” (Copi, p.5) of a problem. Well these methods can be useful; it still can make a problem more confusing such as with the case of paradoxes. It is up to one to make the leap of faith to decide if the conclusions of the methods are acceptable in practice or not.