For the last discussion of the week, I'm going to focus on "appeal to spite" and "calling in your debts" as they are related to each other.
An appeal to spite, in other words, is to form an argument based on the principal of "two wrongs make a right". It's an immoral way to try to argue, as revenge in any form is looked down upon by many cultures.
For example:
Jerry: Hey Jim, will you help me with this assignment? I'm in danger of failing.
Jim: I'll try to help you out.
Chris: Jim, why'd you help Jerry? He never pays you back and is a mean person. He deserves to fail.
The argument that we can see from this generally would be something like, "Since Jerry is a mean person, he deserves to fail." We can see a motive of "getting even" or "revenge", which are the general signs of an "appeal to spite".
To "call in your debts" is pretty much the exact opposite of an "appeal to spite". According to the book, calling in your debts means, "You should believe or do something if you owe someone a favor" (pg. 193).
For example:
Derek: What are you doing tonight?
Harold: Oh, hanging out with Larry.
Derek: Well you should be hanging out with me instead. I did help you out big time last week.
The argument behind this would be something like, "You should be hanging out with me instead of someone else only because I helped you out last week." The motive behind "calling in your debts" is usually trying to take advantage of guilt.
Hi, this post was really helpful for me. The definitions that you gave about "appeal to spite" and "call in your debts" are really straightforward and easy to understand. The examples that you provide are also great uses of the concept. Also, I notice that both of these concepts are often used in our daily lives as well. For instance, my friend uses the call in your debts appeal sometimes to get me to go with him to the movies. Anyways this was a great idea that you discuss about these two concept because it help me when I was doing my post.
ReplyDeleteI really like your post and your examples helped me understand appeal to spite. Appeal to spite sounds like the kind of examples elementary school kids would use because their critical thinking is not 100% great. They tend to be mean to each other and always want revenge. When I was reading your first example, that's what it reminded me of lol. But appeal to spite is also a way to make people understand that you don't like them or insinuate that they are being lazy or unkind. But yea great post and it was interesting to read, it was fun and understandable. :)
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