Assignment:
The Believing Game & How to Make Conflicting Opinions More Fruitful"
Part 1
The believing game makes use of the practice of being skeptical and analytical when it comes to the ideas encountered on a daily basis. Doubts are to surface if one is very skeptical as hidden contradictions can be analyzed and noticed as well as bad reasoning. Critical thinking works well if it makes use of the believing tools which asserts that an idea is correct if we choose to hold back our opinions and trying to believe what they are saying to make the contradicting viewpoints to be fruitful. The believing game gives us an insight into how we should doubt all ideas we encounter and learn how to find weaknesses in the good ideas and avoid dismissing all the ideas we meet, (Elbow, 1973). It is therefore important to note that it hard for an individual to believe contradicting ideas at once rather we can commit to accepting a certain view, the believing game gives us an opportunity to see the virtues in the ideas we have which provides us with evidence that are good but it fails to make us commit or judge the idea on our behalf.
Medical Marijuana
Most of the parts in the United States have legalized the medical use of marijuana. Proponents of this idea believe that it is a safe and effective treatment for any noticed symptoms of AIDS, cancer, epilepsy, pain, and other conditions. However, every idea has an opposing party who claim that the use of medical marijuana is very dangerous and risky. They have backed up their thoughts by saying that the drug is addictive, has led to infertility, driving ability is interfered with, the brain, immune and lung systems are also at high risks of getting damaged, (ProCon.Org., 2019). Well, the question that is mostly asked is that should marijuana be a medical option? Pros and cons that have been analyzed from the opinions of various thoughts if the plant is legible for medical purposes or not.
Pro 3: "Legalize Marijuana for Medical Purposes":
Premise 1: Medical marijuana can be used because it has provided a promise that it can reduce chronic pain on a wider range of ailments.
Premise 2: Opposing the use of medical marijuana is very stupid compared to the fact that doctors have been given the opportunity to prescribe addictive opiates that reduce pain in patients.
Conclusion: It is not logical denying patients with a drug that can alleviate chronic pain. The drug can mediate discomfort if it has any side effects.
Part II:
I feel that premise 2 is a logical fallacy or reasoning that has some errors because the fact that opiates have been legalized in the US to be used as pain relievers doesn't really necessarily mean that the medical marijuana should just be given the go-ahead too. Opposing the idea by some other people should be understood that it means that they have collected facts about the effects it could have on patients. Some medical practitioners claim that marijuana could have adverse effects on the human brain, (Herald Editorial Board, 2017). Research and testing the drug on individuals should be able to provide the best answer to whether medical marijuana is a good option in reducing pain.
The conclusion has been constructed from Premise 1 which is literally generalizing that medical marijuana is only good for mediating pain. It should be noted that evidence is needed in order to back up any idea. Questioning and being skeptical about ideas is good so that it can be credited as logical reasoning. Believing the ideas presented in the premises is very easy because they give us ideas that sound correct based on the fact that if we do not provide our opinions then we will ignore the hidden conflicting views and virtues.
What is interesting about the view is the fact that doubting the ideas presented on the premises about the problem at hand is very difficult. However, we should not commit ourselves to the idea that the government should legalize medical marijuana as a medical drug before we apply the scrutiny of the doubt to observe for any hidden problems in the fallacies. If I chose to believe the view, I would have noticed the existing virtues that exist in the idea, (Elbow, 1973). Well, the fact that the idea gives us an insight into what the medical marijuana is capable of reducing pain among patients who have cancer, spinal cord diseases, trauma disorders, and glaucoma we can conclude that the idea can be true. The idea only states the diseases it is capable of treating, however, that doesn't mean that the idea is true. It is informal reasoning that has many reasoning errors that can only be polished through research.
In conclusion, use of the believing game can be very helpful in analyzing and being skeptical about issues before choosing to believe the ideas. Thinking differently is imperative to this topic because the game helps us see that both sides in an argument are right and giving up on the central idea we have more often, (Elbow, 1973). Critical thinking is important because it helps us understand the ideas we often disagree with and we want the people who have wrong ideas to give up their wrong positions and not commit to them.
References
Elbow, P. (1973). "Appendix Essay. The Doubting Game and the Believing Game: An Analysis of the Intellectual Process." In Writing Without Teachers. Oxford University Press. 147-91.
Herald Editorial Board. (Jan 24, 2017). "Legalize Marijuana for Medical Purposes." Heraldonline.com.
ProCon.Org. (2019). Pros & Cons of Current Issues: Should Marijuana Be a Medical Option?