Quiz 1
Fill in the Blank (10 points). Fill in the blanks below with the word that best fits. Each question is worth one point.
Word Bank: Argument; Cogent; Compound Proposition; Conclusion; Conjunct; Conjunction; Deductive Argument; Disjunction; Disjunct; Hypothetical (Conditional) Proposition; Inductive Argument; Inference: Premise; Simple Proposition; Sound; Strong; Valid; Weak
- A ____________________________ is a proposition making only one assertion.
- A ____________________________ is when one combines two propositions with the word “and.”
- Each of the propositions making up a disjunction is called a _________________.
- A ____________________________ is when one combines two propositions with the phrase “If…, then …”
- A ____________________________ is a proposition used in an argument to support some other proposition.
- A ____________________________ is an argument that asserts that the truth of the premises guarantees the truth of the conclusion.
- A _____________________________ is an argument that asserts that the truth of the premises makes the conclusion more likely.
- 8. An argument is _______________________________ if the truth of the premises guarantees the truth of the conclusion.
- An argument is _______________________________ if it is valid and the premises are true.
- An argument is _______________________________ if it is strong and the premises are true.
Quiz 2
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Diagram each of the following arguments. Each diagram is worth five points.
- Cottage cheese will help you to be slender, youthful, and more beautiful. Enjoy it often.
- From a letter to the editor: “The idea of a free press in America today is a joke. A small group of people, the nation’s advertisers, controls the media more effectively than if they owned it outright. Through fear of an advertising boycott, the can dictate everything from programming to news report content. Politicians as well as editors shiver in their boots at the thought of such a boycott. This situation is intolerable and ought to be changed. I suggest we all listen to National Public Radio and public television.
Quiz 3
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1. List and briefly describe two of the five functions of language discussed in class (2 points each)
2. Give an example of a stipulative definition (2 points).
3. Give a definition by example of the word "computer" (2 points).
4. Give a definition by genus and difference of the word "computer" (2 points).
Phil 101: Quiz 4
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Each of the following passages commits at least one fallacy. Identify and briefly explain one fallacy for each of the passages. This quiz is open notes, open book.
- If you want a life full of sexual pleasure, don’t graduate from college. A study to be published next month in American Demographics magazine shows that people with the most education have the least amount of sex.
- If science wishes to argue that we cannot know what was going on in [the gorilla] Binti’s head when she acted as she did, science must also acknowledge that it cannot prove that nothing was going on. It is because of our irresolvable ignorance, as much as fellow-feeling, that we should give animals the benefit of the doubt and treat them with the respect we accord ourselves.
- What is more useful, the Sun or the Moon? The moon is more useful since it gives us light during the night, when it is dark, whereas the Sun shines only in the daytime, when it is light anyway.
- You know why you think that? Because you are an idiot!
- Why should you clean your room? If you don’t you will be grounded.
Quiz 5
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Draw a truth table for each of the following four symbols:
•; ~; Ú; É
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