Jessica Munoz

Moberly
4/8/14
Chapter 10 Reading Response
Part One:
In the chapter, A Psychologists View: Rogerian Argument, authors Barnet and Bedau
present Carl Rogers approach to an argumentative essay from the perspective of a
psychotherapist. The authors develop their argument by presenting a portion of Carl Rogers
essay explaining his development of argument. The authors purpose is to introduce readers to
the Rogerian argument in order to help in their writing. The authors use a thoughtful tone to
express Rogers ideas.
Part Two:
Carl R. Rogers
I found him as a person fascinating because he is a psychotherapist and since I want to go into
psychology, I feel like I actually connected to him.
The checklist for analyzing Rogerian argument
This checklist is helpful because it has the steps necessary to fulfill the requirements in writing a
Rogerian argument. Its helpful because there are so many different ways to write papers so it is
nice to have a checklist to make sure people are writing in the right way.
Edward O. Wilsons essay
His essay grasped my attention since he is a biologist and is writing to a pastor. Science and
religion are always seen as rivals so it was nice to see a perspective where one profession agreed
but also gave his insight on what he thought was right.
Part Three;
First, the authors give a brief introduction on Carl Rogers and explain his profession and
a bit of his background. They then offer a brief description of what is in the Rogerian argument
essay and what you need to write it. They then go on to show an essay of Rogers explaining the
conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. They then put the checklist after his
essay for readers to check to make sure that was there. They then go on to put an essay by
Edward O. Wilson explaining his disagreement with church and religion separating.
Part Four:
Medium: essays, checklist, fine print, questions for discussion
Audience: college students
Purpose: show readers how to argue using the Rogerian model
Part Five:
This reading was actually interesting because it focused more on showing us a side to the
models instead of giving us so many different examples which just confuse me more. Its easier
to see it in effect rather than try and figure it out yourself. The checklist was there to reassure us
that we were doing the right thing and that is always helpful. I liked Wilsons essay also because
it offered a different perspective to in the always heated debate between science and religion. I
think it is dumb that they just cant combine the two theories because it makes sense to combine
two theories and not just completely shun the other. Overall this chapter was helpful in
introducing another form of argumentative writing we can reference back in the future.