The Vocabulary of an Argument

[Naydyonov]

Now we've all made arguments and given our opinions on certain questions, however I think one of the most neglected part's of our argument, is where it originates from.

What do I mean by this?

Take a look at the next statements;

#1: I think many immigrants don't have any incentive to work once they arrive.

#2: I feel like the quality of policemen is becoming worse.

#3: I believe our society is too nice to murderers.

Just picture it for a second, and think, what makes the essence of each sentence different?

.

.

.

.

..

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Okay, hopefully you thought about it.

My view is that the only difference in each of the statements is the usage of; "I think", "I believe", and "I feel".

Many people use these terms quite interchangeably, however there must be a difference, otherwise why use different words when expressing your opinion/argument?

Let's look at each sentence.

#1: I think many immigrants don't have enough incentive to work once they arrive.

Now, this person says "I think'", thus we understand he's thinking, but what's the core of his argument? Or, what should be the core of his argument if he says "I think".

Here's the story; He googled statistics for a project and found that 25% of all immigrants are unemployed, compared with 8% of the total population. He says "okay, interesting. Why could that be? — such a difference between natives and immigrants in employment levels". He then finds that immigrants who have been in the country for over two years have an unemployment level of 16%. He could then assume that it means that a large proportion of new immigrants are unemployed, perhaps as high as 70%., in a given year

He also finds that from natives of the country while unemployment is 8% overall, for those entering the workforce it's 25%, and two years later it's 10%.

He makes the correlation that in general regardless of status people in general have trouble finding jobs upon entering the workforce.

However, why would those who have been in the country for over two years have an unemployment rate of 16% while those who have been in the country for over 6 years have an unemployment rate of 15%? "Does it really take 6 years to find a job?"

He finds that from the native population 4% of people are on welfare, while 13.5% of immigrants who've been in the country 2+ years are on welfare. "Hmm, 13.5% on welfare, 15% unemployed.."

Now, through this type of independent research he comes to the opinion that welfare in fact is keeping many immigrants from seeking employment as it discourages them to get a job.

Thus, once presenting his argument it only makes sense to start "I think", as he did in fact think through his argument.

#2: I feel like the quality of policemen is becoming worse.

In this opinion the person watched a video of police brutality in class and says this statement.

The difference in this case is that the opinion is an emotion, it's innately not supported by facts, despite the full potential of the argument being 100% correct.

#3: I believe our society is too nice to murderers.

A person's friend reads out the headline of an article, "Maximum sentence for Murder reduced from 25 years to 12 years". The person then says this statement.

In this case the person's opinion is neither produced out of accumulation of thought nor from feelings.

The belief comes from his belief of the Sun God Bob and the holy book of the Moon, in which it states that a murderer must forever receive punishment for his crime.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

So, if guy from #1 tells guy from #2 that in fact based on collected stats from the general population suggest that many more citizens believe that the quality of policemen is improving, as well as the number of all crimes falling by 7% a year, and the percentage of people feeling safe outside increased from 60% to 90%, thus all these different findings must logically lead to the conclusion that due to the increased quality of policemen crimes are falling and people feel safer and that if policemen were becoming worse then crimes would increase and less people would feel safe.

Guy #2 tells him that he feels like the quality of policemen is falling because he notices many more are now fat(!) and a fat police officer is of lower physical quality, thus reducing overall quality of the officer. How frustrating would it be if the police officer couldn't catch the guy who stole your wallet because he was too fat he says.

Who's right?

Well guy #3 says that based on his beliefs he believes that the police force is in fact becoming lower quality because more of them work as professionals rather than community volunteers, as in the Holy book of the Moon it states that the only type of good policeman, is one who receives no compensation for his work for the community.

As a result none of them are wrong, they all stated exactly what their opinion represented; a thought, a feeling, and a belief.

Had Guy #2 said that he thinks that policemen are becoming worse because he started noticing many more fat ones then he would be wrong, as emotion cannot connect facts in statistics of obesity to a feeling. The feeling may be fully justified in his part of the city where 80% of cops are obese, however if nationally only 1% of cops are obese, then he's wrong either way because crime is going down, regardless of obesity rates in cops. And the officer's job is to stop crime. Logical, right?

How to determine what you should use?

I think = An opinion backed by concrete numbers or through a link of various information.

I feel = An opinion backed simply by an inner feeling, of frustration, happiness, and whatever else.

I believe = An opinion backed by one's belief in an idea which tend to be related to a person's morals, that in turn can originate from religion, parents, of just one's self.

I feel that I've made a good argument as to the use of these words and am interested in what you think about the matter as well as my presentation.

I believe a 'Thanks for reading' is in order ;)

[XanderX]

1. i think that may be for European nation immigrants. The hardest working people I have ever seen has been the Latin americans. Specially those with families, they will do anything for a job. And once they get it they work their assets off. I once worked with a guy who currently works from Monday to Saturday from 7 am - 3pm then from 5pm - 10pm. And Sunday from 5am- 12pm.

2. Yea the police system has been in its lowest point likely. When that is depending where you live. But it is a vicious cicle. The bad guy kills a good police officer. The bad police in return kills a good guy then people riot. The. Bad guys kills more good police officers then bad police officers kill good guys. And this will not seem to end anytime soon.

3. Yup, I believe world governments are going easy on murderers. There should be harsher punishments including the death penalty to those people who kill and there is a high level of evidence proving it. No exceptions on color skin nor social class. But of course the law is always on the side who can afford it so I don't think punishments will never be equal.

[Naydyonov]

I will get back to you

[_Enigma_]

They are essentially the same word, they pretty much mean the same thing. English is a strange language, but the sentences more or less give the same message across. You can think something without having actual solid evidence to back it up despite the person maybe thinking they do, and you can feel or believe something because of hard evidence to support it.

[Naydyonov]

In a way yes, there can be overlaps, but when I hear "I feel" every time, then what am I to think?

[lord_chilled]

Give it some time. If it gets featured, you get more

[lord_chilled]

Sorry, i was meant to say that under my comment

[Map4Territory]

This analysis is only valid if language is both used and interpreted very literally. Most people choose their words in order to influence others and frame their argument in the most agreeable/strongest way. The reason these terms are used in different scenarios isn't about the process of originating an argument but rather what the speaker thinks would be most effective at convincing people in that moment. You may not think that should be the case but that is how people speak and is the only reason why people use one word or another.

Also, if an immigrant has no job but is not actively looking for work they are not considered unemployed and don't get added into unemployment statistics. Only people looking for work can be considered unemployed.

[Naydyonov]

I made up examples of random things

[Map4Territory]

I figured, your point didn't really rest on that as an argument so it doesn't matter much. Personally my belief is that the three choices show different levels of aggression. I feel is the least aggressive, it lets people know that you are open to feedback/criticism. I think is moderate, suggesting that while you welcome feedback you are also willing to get confrontational to defend your point. I believe is the most aggressive and a sign that any disagreement will be responded to with personal insults and judgement.

My own statement: "personally my belief" is intended to sound agreeable. While I use "believe" the addition of qualifiers makes it sound like I am trying to find middle ground. I went with "believe" as opposed to feel because that phrasing is more common in English and is likely to be overlooked.

[Naydyonov]

perhaps, I tend to use each to a specific statement and I'm quite well understood by friends and people I know.

If they ask me to explain than they always adjust the question based on the "feel, think, believe" , and I can give the exact answer to the exact question of the exact opinion

[Map4Territory]

I'm all for precision in the English language. Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" is my jam. But have you not observed a discrepancy between how language is used and how language would be best used?

I guess that is my point, that while the three verbs you used do have specific, unique meanings they in practice are used by people in ways that suggest they are the same. That the motivations of the speaker often dictate the words used as opposed to absolute correct definitions. This makes it hard to judge the statements of someone literally, as their usuage was not chosen literally.

And while you may choose words literally and specifically, that by itself wouldn't create any drastic confusion because the rest of the argument is what other parties would be interested in interacting with anyways. Such tolerance would allow an understanding of what you said while simultaneously allowing people to use those verbs non-literally in a way you would also understand.

[Naydyonov]

No people can say what they want, but I do think feel there's an impact from saying "I feel" for example, all the time.

I at least get the impression that literally all their arguments are just feelings, something they haven't actually looked into

[disgustingweebtrash]

I think this is a good myTake

[Naydyonov]

thanks brother

[lord_chilled]

Good take

[Naydyonov]

Thanks

I think like my previous myTake I'll only get 2 comments :D