Critical Thinking Midterm
What does the skill deductive reasoning mean?
Drawing inferences in which it appears that the conclusion cannot possibly be false if all of the premises are true.
What does the skill inductive reasoning mean?
Drawing probabilistic inferences regarding what is most likely to be true or most likely not true, given certain information
Monitoring one's cognitive activities, the elements used and the results produced.
Self-regulation
What does the skill of interpretation include in the critical thinking process?
Stating the importance of a set of beliefs or conventions
To evaluate a probabilistic generalization we need to do more than to find one or two counterexamples. Which of the following questions should be asked when evaluating the logical strength of a probabilistic generalization?
Were the data obtained in an effective way?
Consider this argument: "The kidnappers have taken eight people hostage and are holding them at a farmhouse just outside town. If the SWAT team assaults the farmhouse, the hostages could be killed. But if we give into the kidnappers' demands for ransom and safe passage out of the country, we'll only be encouraging more kidnappings of innocent people. What can we do?" That argument is an example of ________.
the False Dilemma fallacy
Chris makes this argument to himself: "Everybody I know has at least one tattoo, most of my friends have three or four, but I have only one. So, it's about time that I get another tattoo." By making this argument Chris is actually engaging in __________.
the bandwagon fallacy
Consider this argument: "Racists typically like to hang out with racists. Birds of a feather, if you know what I mean. And yesterday I saw John hanging out with those racist White National Pride jerks. So you know what that makes John, don't you. Right. A racist." That argument is an example of __________.
the fallacy of false classification
Consider this argument: "When Caitlin was six years old she told her Mom that in school she wanted to learn how come babies grew up to look like their parents. The science that deals with that is genetics. Therefore, when she was a little girl Caitlin had already announced that she planned to major in genetics." That argument is an example of __________.
the fallacy of false reference
Argument making in real world situations is essentially a one-way street. The reason is used to establish the acceptability of the claim. This practice presumes that the speaker is not then __________.
using the claim as a basis for the reason
Medical doctor X, a world-renowned physician, is paid by pharmaceutical company to use the drugs it produces in X's practice. The pharmaceutical company pays all of the expenses for Dr. X, and the doctor's family too, to attend medical conferences, which are always held at expensive holiday resorts. The pharmaceutical company arranges for Dr. X to be interviewed on TV and to speak at hospitals and colleges on the benefits of the drugs, which the company produces. And the company pays the doctor to do research on those drugs and it publishes that research when it shows that their drugs are effective. Given this information, should the advice Dr. X might give about which drugs are best to use in a given situation be regarded as trustworthy? Write your response using the 12 characteristics of a trustworthy source as discussed in chapter six. How could Dr. X be a more trustworthy source? BE SPECIFIC.
1. Learning in the topic: We know he is a doctor, but does he have a degree in pharmaceutical drugs? 2. Experienced: He is a medical doctor, a world-renowned physician 3. Speaking about: They are speaking about effective drugs (which are extremely important). 4. Up-to-date: Goes to medical conferences, but we do not have exact dates of when he has been to those conferences 5. Basis of their claim or advice: The doctor goes on TV, hospitals, and colleges to go on the behalf of the drugs. 6. Unbiased: The company pays for everything, even the family to go on lavish holiday resorts. Are they biased on the results of the drugs as well? 7. Truthful: We do not have written documents that shows the doctor's credentials or the experiments of the drugs tested 8. Free of conflict of interest: Is the company really trying to produce effective drugs for the community, or is it a money scandal. 9. Accord in our interest: It only publishes the documents of the drugs when they are effective, so what about the non-effective results? 10. Unconstrained: The doctor and company only puts out the effective drug. 11. Informed about the specifics: We are not told about the specifics of the procedures with the drugs and are only given access to the effective drugs. 12. Mentally stable: We are not aware of the doctor's mental capacity or any background information. After breaking down this article on the twelve characteristics of trustworthiness. Dr. X would be a more trustworthy source if we had more access to his previous education and his doctrine in pharmaceuticals. He would also be more trustworthy if we knew his mental capacity and background (where he's from, what school he went too, where has he been in practice). We can not just believe what he says just because he is a "world-renowned physician".
Identify the implicit assumption in this passage: "The group of people known as the jury is confused. So the jury ought to ask the judge for guidance."
All confused groups of people ought to be allowed to ask for guidance.
Identifying a person's reasons, claims and unspoken assumptions.
Analysis
What bias is apparent in Andy Rooney's comment below? "I know a lot of you believe that most people in the news business are liberal. Let me tell you, I know a lot of them, and they were almost evenly divided this time. Half of them liked Senator Kerry; the other half hated President Bush." --CBS's Andy Rooney on the November 7, 2004 60 Minutes.
Andy Rooney is suggesting that people didn't really choose a candidate based upon their party affiliation in the 2004 election.
Analyze and deconstruct the argument below. In your answer, tell me: 1. what the conclusion is; 2. what the reason(s) is/are; 3. what implied idea(s) there is/are in a few short sentences. Make sure you clearly label each part of the argument so that I know you understand the concepts. One conclusion, one implied idea and two reasons (that can be combined into one). There cannot be more than one God. Otherwise, there would be two Gods equally powerful, or one is more powerful than the other. Therefore, Christianity is the correct viewpoint on God.
Conclusion: Christianity is the correct viewpoint on God. Reasons: There cannot be more than one god because both gods would be equally powerful or one more powerful than the other. Implied: If something/someone is God, there cannot be anything more powerful than he/she/it.
Analyze and deconstruct the argument below. In your answer, tell me : 1. what the conclusion is; 2. what the reason(s) is/are; 3. what implied idea(s) there is/are in a few short sentences. Make sure you clearly label each part of the argument so that I know you understand the concepts. There is one statement for each part of the 1-2-3 above. It should not be illegal for an adult to smoke marijuana. It is not illegal for an adult to drink alcohol if they are of legal age. Marijuana does not harm anyone other than the person smoking it.
Conclusion: It should not be illegal for an adult to smoke marijuana. Reason: It does not harm anyone other than the person smoking it. Implied: (Just like drinking alcohol,) things that do not harm anyone other than the immediate person performing the action should not be made illegal.
Consider this argument: "Stock today closed slightly lower on moderate trading. This was after an announcement last night that Middle Eastern oil producers were planning to increase the price of a barrel of oil by 1.5% over the next 18 months. The slide in the market was probably reacting to that announcement. Don't you agree?" That argument is an example of ________.
False Cause
Consider the reasoning expressed by the speaker in this passage: "We were having a severe midwinter cold spell. The city was running out of heating oil for private home use. So the city ordered everyone to set their home thermostats down to 65 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and 62 at night. But I set my thermostat at 67 during the day and 64 at night. I reasoned this way. It is in my best interest to cheat just a little by keeping our house a bit warmer. In fact, it is in the best interest of each person who lives in the city to do the same thing. So it follows that it is in the city's best interest if everyone were to cheat just a little." We can reasonably evaluate the speaker's inference as __________.
False: fallacy of composition
What does the skill analysis include in the critical thinking process?
Identification of a person's reasons, claims and unspoken assumptions
Hypothesizing the consequences flowing from data.
Inference
Stating the importance of a set of beliefs or conventions.
Interpretation
What is the best evaluation of this argument? "A university was saved from financial and academic disaster by its provost, who later went on to become a consultant. James Hoopster became a consultant after having served as a provost. So James Hoopster saved his university from financial and academic disaster."
It is invalid because we cannot be sure if we are referring to the same provost.
Which of the following is implied by these premises: "Everyone who has ever had a job in a car wash or restaurant has earned tips. Jason has never had a job where he earned tips."
Jason has never worked in a restaurant or a car wash.
From a recent newspaper article, I found this quote: "After reading that Paris Hilton told an interviewer how the beauty of her hit song 'Stars Are Blind' made her want to cry, I couldn't help thinking of a quotation from Mark Twain: 'Man is the only animal that blushes, or needs to.' " To understand that sentence, readers need to draw at least three essential inferences. Choose the three inferences you would need to make to understand this quote with its utmost meaning.
Mark Twain did not personally know Paris Hilton. The author in the newspaper article makes a connection between Hilton and Twain because she thinks Hilton is one of those humans should blush from shame. Mark Twain thought that only humans blushed because they were the only ones who did things they needed to be ashamed of. The author of the quote thinks the song is just awful.
When we describe a claim as "self-contradictory" we mean that because of its grammatical construction and the meanings of the words used to express the claim, the claim should be regarded as __________.
Necessarily false
Consider this argument:"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that there were 30,800 motor vehicle fatalities in 2012. Of those 4,957 were motorcyclist fatalities. This means that driving or riding in a car or a truck is six times more dangerous than riding a motorcycle." That argument is an example of ________.
Playing with Numbers
What are the five primary stratgies that your textbook details about how to resolve problematic vagueness and problematic ambiguity? Please address what the terms problematic ambiguity and problematic vagueness mean first in your answer. Then, talk about the five steps that are useful in addressing problematic vagueness and ambiguity. (i.e. The first step is contextualizing which can be demonstrated by..., then the second step is....). Then, address this word problem : This is a land of opportunity. Show me each step of your solution using the five strategies and come up with a successful solution to solve the problematic vagueness/ambiguity present in the original statement. 10 points go to the description of each of the five steps and definitions of ambiguity/vagueness, 5 points go toward a correct re-statement of the word problem.
Problematic ambiguity is when an expression or concept can be interpreted in different ways, in other words, a word or phrase can withhold multiple meanings. Problematic vagueness is when an expression or concept is unclear or not completely understood by the reader; it leaves room for questioning. There are ways to address the problems with ambiguity and vagueness. The book states that there are five steps. 1. The first step is contextualizing which solves the ambiguity and vagueness by reminding the reader of the topic that is being discussed or what situation is happening. Asking, what circumstance is occurring? 2. The second step would be to clarify content. This would be to ask for clarification on the subject at hand. 3. The third step would be to negotiate the meaning. This works well in eliminating vagueness by questioning and reasoning between two different positions in order resolve the vagueness. 4. The fourth step would be using qualifications, exceptions, or exclusions. Tie in qualifications that allow the reader to justify or exclude certain meaning. 5. The fifth step would include stipulating the meaning. This is done by giving the word or phrase a meaning for a specific set of purposes. This is a land of opportunity 1. In context there is a place that has an abundance of chances. 2. Where is this land? Would it be America? Is the opportunity jobs, money, or success? 3. Land could be justified as a country. Opportunity could be a better life or life situation. 4. There is a phrase land of the free and home of the brave. Which is in reference to America, so the word "land" could be referenced as the United States. 5. Opportunity could be used for chances, success, jobs, money, or good favor. Restated sentence: The United States has many different job selections such as engineering, education, retail, and construction. There should be definitions of contextualizing, clarifying intent, negotiating, qualifying and stipulating in your answer. Land and opportunity are the problematic terms in the example and need further clarification/stipulation in a successful re-wording of the problem.
What does the term self-regulatory mean?
The capacity to monitor the thinking process, correcting detected mistakes
Identify the explicit reason in this passage: "The jury is confused. So it ought to ask the judge for guidance."
The jury is confused
Which statement in the following passage is not an explicit or implicit premise of the argument? "The jury ought to ask the judge for guidance because it is confused, and all confused groups of people ought to be allowed to ask for guidance."
The jury ought to ask the judge for guidance
Identify the claim in this passage: "The jury is confused, and all confused groups of people ought to be allowed to ask for guidance. So the jury ought to ask the judge for guidance."
The jury ought to ask the judge for guidance.
Assume that Global High-tech Solutions Corp. (GHSC) is a business solutions firm. They have historically been a very strong firm with many clients from across the globe. Even so, historically GHSC employees had been trained to follow rules and not question authority. This has lowered the quality of services offered by GHSC as employees have stopped asking questions and offering innovative suggestions. With the age of the internet upon us, GHSC is now bleeding profit. Realizing that it is in trouble, GHSC has decided to hire a trainer who can help its employees improve their critical thinking skills and habits of mind. What qualities should the trainer possess? How should the trainer show s/he possesses these skills? What are examples of questions or statements that show these skills? Detail examples of the SIX core critical thinking skills from the textbook with creating hypothetical situations. ("Questions to Fire up our Critical Thinking Skills" in the textbook, for example) The first skill is done for you as an example: The trainer should show strong interpretation skills. S/he should be able to look at why GHSC chose to have workers be obedient without questioning as a rule. For example, in the context of the business world, what was intended by this? Follow with the other five skills; 2 points per hypothetical/skill.
The other skills are: Analysis Inference Evaluation Explanation Self-Regulation
Six specific statements about the topic of Shakespeare follow. Read them carefully. Then choose the more appropriate inference from the choices below the question. Topic: Shakespeare in nineteenth-century America Statements: a. In the early nineteenth century, Shakespeare was the most widely performed playwright in both the North and Southeast. b. In the first half of the nineteenth century, English and American actors could always earn money by performing Shakespeare in towns both big and small. c. American audiences were famous for their participation in performances of Shakespeare's plays: They hurled eggs and tomatoes at the villains and cheered and whistled for the heroes. d. By the end of the nineteenth century, theater owners claimed that most ordinary people couldn't understand Shakespeare, and they were refusing to stage his plays. e. In the early 1800s, theater-goers in big cities could often choose between three different productions of Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet; by the end of the nineteenth century, it was hard to find one production of a Shakespeare play, let alone several.
The role of Shakespeare in America changed dramatically as the nineteenth century drew to a close.
Read the following passage below from the famous tale, The Beauty and the Beast. Then, tell me what is the strongest implied piece of information in this passage from the options given below. "Once upon a time . . . as a merchant set off for market, he asked each of his three daughters what she would like as a present on his return. The first daughter wanted a brocade dress, the second a pearl necklace, but the third, whose name was Beauty, the youngest, prettiest and sweetest of them all, said to her father: "All I'd like is a rose you've picked specially for me!""
The youngest daughter was the most modest of the three.
To evaluate a probabilistic generalization we need to do more than to find one or two counterexamples. Which of the following questions should be asked when evaluating the logical strength of a probabilistic generalization?
Was the correct group sampled?
To evaluate a probabilistic generalization we need to do more than to find one or two counterexamples. Which of the following questions should be asked when evaluating the logical strength of a probabilistic generalization?
Was the sample representatively structured?
George argued that the film Jurassic World did not deserve to be nominated for any science fiction awards because it was not "authentic sci-fi." George's argument depends on stipulating that the boundary of the concept "science fiction" does not include or apply to that film. To do this George uses which of the following devices?
a donkey cart word
Consider this argument: "The paper showed a picture of the CEO in chains doing the perp walk as he was being led off to jail. Another middle-aged white guy with a $400 haircut! Same as Bernard Madoff, the guy who swindled $170 million out of rich people with his Ponzi scheme. All those corporate thieves are overpaid white guys." That argument is an example of ________.
a fallacy of Erroneous Generalization
Consider this passage: "'Either we'll finish the yard work in time to go to the movie, or we'll enjoy a quiet evening at home,' said John. 'I don't see us finishing in time for the movie,' said Malaya. 'It's a quiet evening at home then,' said John." We can reasonably characterize this passage as __________.
a valid inference with the conclusion that the couple will be spending a quiet evening at home
Professor Smith informed the students of her intention to be a "fair" teacher. One student thought she meant that her approach to grading was going to be objective and just. Another student thought that the professor meant that she had quite modest aspirations for the quality of her teaching efforts. This is an example of ________.
ambiguity
Chris, a master at office gossip and innuendo, says, "We know we have a corporate spy someplace in the organization, probably on the management team itself. There is no evidence that it is Audrey. In fact, she's too clean, if you know what I mean. Somebody should fire Audrey; she's got to be the spy." By making this argument Chris is actually engaging in __________.
an appeal to ignorance fallacy
In the context of argument analysis, which of pair of words can be used interchangeably?
claim, conclusion
Caitlin told her roommate that she wanted to change her major to Studio Art, but that she was a novice. Her roommate replied, "You mean you'll be a beginner, right? Not that you were forbidden to change your major because you were a nun, right?" The roommate is using which strategy to discover how to resolve the ambiguity of the word novice?
clarifying intent
If we can determine using statistical analysis that two different sets of events are aligned, we can call those events ________.
correlated
Jerome asks his colleague the following questions: "Who said that? Where were they when they said it? To whom did they say it?" What is Jerome trying to do?
establish context
In colleges and universities there are many different disciplinary language communities. When a professor from one discipline uses the same technical term as a professor from another discipline, it can be confusing to undergraduates who may not realize that the same word may mean different things in those two different academic language communities. This is why making a correct interpretation of what each professor means requires that the students learn ________.
how their words are used by the members of their language communities
Which of the following is not necessarily a characteristic of a trustworthy expert on topic X?
majored in X.
When we describe a claim as "tautology" we mean that because of its grammatical construction and the meanings of the words used to express the claim, the claim should be regarded as __________.
necessarily true
Almost every word in the dictionary has more than one meaning. Why then do we not become confused constantly by this ambiguity? The multiple meanings of most of the words we use do not confuse us because ________.
we use context and purpose to pick out the speaker's meaning
