PHI 2100: Critical Thinking, Test 2 Practice Review Questions

The format of test 2 will be:

A section of objective questions (multiple choice or true/false)

A section of short answer essay questions (approximately 3-5 questions)

A section of problems to be worked out regarding immediate inferences in traditional logic

A section on identification of informal fallacies

Generic Sample Questions:

Which informal fallacy is exemplified in the following passage? Since there is no appreciable difference between an average of 89.4 and 90.0 in this or any course, it makes no sense to call one of them a B+ and the other one an A-. In fact, there is no clear distinction between a 94.2 average and a 95.0 average, so the distinction between an A- in the first case, and an A in the second is unwarranted.

If you know that “All C is non-D” is true, then what can be determined about the following statements?

a. No D is C.

b. Some C is non-D.

c. Some C is not D.

d. All non-D is C.

What does Antony Flew intend to illustrate or explain with his presentation of “Pascal’s Wager” in the text?

What is the difference between denotative and connotative meaning?

Explain the distinction between the “post hoc” fallacy and a generic charge of “hasty conclusion.”

Why is “small sample” a case of hasty conclusion while “unrepresentative sample” is a case of irrelevant reason?

State the converse of: “No non-voters are citizens.”