All you need for the exam is something to write with (pen or pencil is fine). I will provide you with all the necessary paper.
Part I: Fill-in-the-Blank. You should know the definitions of the following terms:
- Logic
- Critical Thinking
- Metaphysics
- Epistemology
- Axiology
- Science
- Pseudoscience
- Neuropsychological Humility
- Metacognition
- Scientific Skepticism
- False Memory Syndrome
- Inattentional Blindness
- Apophenia
- Proposition
- Argument
- Premise
- Conclusion
- Deductive
- Inductive
- Valid
- Invalid
- Sound
- Not Sound
- Strong
- Weak
- Cogent
- Not Cogent
Part II: Short Answers. You should be able to explain the following concepts: - The core tools and values that characterize the methodology of scientific skepticism
- The different types of memory
- The five ways in which we modify and alter memories
- The major issues with the reliability of memory and perception
- Pareidolia, and why it is significant for skeptics
- Hyperactive Agency Detection, and why it is significant for skeptics
- Hypnagogia, and why it is significant for skeptics
- The Ideomotor effect, and why it is significant for skeptics
- Identify the three types of Inductive argument we discussed in class (Enumerative Induction, Analogical Induction, Inference to the Best Explanation) and discuss some of the considerations that make those arguments strong or weak.
Part III: Short Essay. You will write a short essay in which you apply the tools and concepts discussed so far in class to a pseudoscience. The particular pseudoscience will be described on the exam in the prompt for the essay question. | 