Critical thinking test
Josh_95
unit_5_test_____161014.docxNAME: Don’t Forget!
DATE:
Unit 5 Test
Please download this test. Save your work as a WORD document and attach it to the assignment page. For the paraphrases and short answer questions, please use colored text to mark off your answers.
Section A: Argument diagramming:
Please diagram the following arguments as per the principles and methods laid out in chapter 7. (Regarding the technical aspects of this, please refer to the tutorial “Diagramming with your Computer” in the Unit 5 content folder.)
Example:
(1) Under any plausible approach to statutory interpretation, the text is very important. (2) It is what legislators have enacted. (3) It is what is most easily available to those who must decide how to act in respect to subjects the statute regulated. (4) It is the most straightforward evidence of what legislators were seeking to accomplish.
(Don’t forget to number the claims of the argument you are diagramming.)
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1. All fizzles are farkles. This furkle is not a farkle, and thus this furkle is not a fizzle.
2. Henry should be the next President, because he the most qualified candidate and the voters clearly prefer him.
3 We shouldn’t elect Hillary president because she has no concept of how to run a reality TV show, and she will probably give up all our state secrets inn emails because she has no knowledge of how technology works
4. Either this is a Firebird or it's a Camaro. It's a Firebird only if it's a Pontiac. But it's not a Pontiac. Hence, it's not a Firebird. Hence, it's a Camaro.
5. The stores are closed. We have no money. And we have no way of traveling to any place of business. Therefore, we are just not going to be able to go shopping right now.
6. The authority of the reporter is a true and proper reason for believing reports, and the better this authority, the juster the claim it hath to our assent. But the authority of God is on all accounts the best. Therefore, whatever comes from God, it is most reasonable to believe.
(George Berkeley, Alciphron, 1732)
(You can, if you wish, put this argument into contemporary English before you diagram it.)
7. It is no accident that the nation's most toxic sites are surrounded by black and Latino communities. Most minority communities in the United States are poor, and low income people can't vote with their feet and move wherever they choose. Nor do the poor have the political clout to challenge the local zoning boards that protect wealthy communities.
8. The 49ers will make the playoffs only if the Cowboys win. (2) If the 49ers make the playoffs, then they will play the Redskins. If the Redskins win, they will be in the Super Bowl. But the Cowboys won't win. Their top two quarterbacks are hurt, and (6) their defense has been decimated by injuries. Therefore, the 49ers will not make the playoffs.
(Hint: Are all of the above claims relevant to the logic of the argument?)
9. The angels of God have no knowledge of sin, and thus also they have no knowledge of forgiveness, therefore they have no knowledge of that tender love that is formed by forgiveness.
(Abraham Kuyper, To Be Near Unto God, 1925)
10. There are at least two main views regarding the morality of war. Pacifism is the view that no war is ever justified because it involves the taking of human life. Just-war theory is the view that some wars are justified for various reasonsmostly because they help prevent great evils (such as massacres, “ethnic cleansing,” or world domination by a madman like Hitler) or because they are a means of self-defense. I think that our own moral sense tells us that sometimes (in the case of World War II, for example) violence is occasionally morally justified. [Implied conclusion: Just-war theory is correct.]
Hint: It may be that not all the statements in the argument have to be premises or conclusions. Some may only provide background information. Once you have figured out the conclusion, you can work backwards to see which statements are actually necessary as premises to support it and which not. It may be that, once this is done, the argument is actually very simple.
Section B:
Please paraphrase the following arguments according to the principles laid out in Ch. 7:
11.
When litter is in the immediate vicinity of an individual and that individual has other property in his immediate possession which is of the same brand name, such person or persons shall be presumed to have caused the litter to be abandoned in the immediate vicinity
12.
Because the father of poetry was right in denominating poetry an imitative art, these metaphysical poets will, without great wrong lose their right to the name of poets, for they copied neither nature nor life.
(Note: the paraphrase will probably omit the “father of poetry” and focus on what he had to say.)
In the following three arguments, please supply any missing component necessary to make a valid deductive argument. (Hint: Before you answer these, please review what a “valid deductive argument” is, exactly!)
Example:
Henry is a drummer, so he must have a great sense of rhythm.
Missing Prem: All drummers have a great sense of rhythm.
13.
Of course we should build a wall along the Canadian Border. Just look at how many people support the idea!!
14.
Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look. Such men are dangerous. [And therefore: ??]
(careful!)
15.
The city should reimburse the mayor for her hospital expenses for the simple reason that the accident took place while she was engaged in city business.
Section C: Outlining an Argument in Enhanced Standard Form:
Please outline the following arguments in Enhanced Standard Form, as laid out in the Guide to Ch. 7 and in more detail in the posted document (marked important!) entitled Framing an Argument in Enhanced Standard Form. Precision matters here, so please follow the procedure exactly. Specifically, please make sure your formulation correctly reflects the relations of premises working dependently and those working independently.
16.
Jones does not attend Church, for he is an atheist, and atheists do not attend church.
17.
Since rights claimed against the government should (at least in a democracy) be held equally by all citizens, and not every citizen can be employed by the government, citizens cannot claim a right to a job from the government
J. Desjardins, An Introduction to Business Ethics
18.
Because only those who can quote large chunks from that textbook can pass a test on it, it is useless for me to try.
[Hint: are all the necessary premises there?]
19.
School tests should be abolished. Tests introduce competition where it does not belong. They deny the individuality of students’ talents and interests. They degrade education by encouraging passivity, mindlessness, and triviality. Finally, they send the wrong messages about what is valuable in education and in life.
(Cited by E.D. Hirsch in The Schools We Need.)
20.
We know that supporters of the Klan are rabidly again gun control. Tea-Partyists are also against gun control, so some Tea-Partyists must be supporters of the Klan!
Extra credit:
Is this a good deductive argument? If not, why not? How might you demonstrate this?
21.
Well, really, there are only two ways Snurdley can survive his Math test, either by cheating or with divine intervention. He won’t be able to cheat, because the instructor will be watching him like a hawk, and God won’t help him either, since Snurdley is an atheist. Snurdley’s going to fail!
22.
Henry is a hockey player and he's flunking physics. Sam's a hockey player and he's flunking chemistry. George is a hockey player, too, and he's flunking music appreciation. Hockey players must really be dumb!
Hint: How many individual premises are there here? Which premises have to work together with which in order to support your conclusion?
23.
In the United States, automobiles cause thousands of deaths each year and produce noxious and offensive fumes. It is also true that smoking causes thousands of deaths each year and produces similar noxious and offensive fumes. If smoking is to be heavily regulated for this reason, the use of automobiles should be similarly regulated. But we can agree that it would be absurd to heavily regulate the use of automobiles, so smoking shouldn’t be heavily regulated either.
(Hint: this argument is based on a conditional statement, which is itself supported by the claim that automobiles and smoking are similar in specific respects - an argument by analogy.)
24.
A Letter to Editor:
Dear Editor,
Several States have abolished the insanity defense as a defense against criminal responsibility. This may be popular with voters, but it is morally indefensible. Insanity removes moral responsibility, and it is wrong to punish someone who is not morally responsible for his deed. Moreover, it is pointless to punish the insane because punishment has no deterrent effect on a person who cannot appreciate the wrongfulness or criminality of his or her actions.
Hints: Are all the claims given relevant to the conclusion? And, of course, what IS the actual conclusion?
25.
Nonhuman animals lack linguistic capacity, and for this reason, lack a mental or psychological life. Thus, animals are non-sentient. If so, of course, they cannot be caused pain, appearances to the contrary. Hence, there can be no duty not to cause them pain.
(Hint: in your outline, because of the logic of the argument, you may have to list the premises in a different order than they are given in the text of the argument in order to show what supports what. You may end up with a sort of “Chinese Boxes” structure, with a whole series of claims that in turn support and are supported by other claims. )
Unit 5 TEST (161024) 2
