Deck 2: Reasoning

Question 1

Why would it be unreasonable to insist that every argument should be deductively valid?

Answer 1

No Answer

Question 2

Explain how induction, inference to the best explanation, and hypothesis testing are related.

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

Why is it important to study reasoning?

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

In philosophy, an argument is a verbal dispute.

Question 5

Logic concerns the actual truth of premises.

Question 6

The premises of a valid argument must be true.

Question 7

The conclusion of a valid argument can be false.

Question 8

Statements cannot be valid.

Question 9

Arguments that are not valid must always be dismissed as bad reasoning.

Question 10

The conclusion of an inductive argument should be guaranteed by the premises.

Question 11

Inference to the best explanation is a type of nondeductive reasoning.

Question 12

Arguments always have clearly identified premises and conclusions.

Question 13

Logic is the branch of philosophy that studies

A) the truth of philosophical premises.
B) the truth of scientific conclusions.
C) the inferential relations between premises and conclusions.
D) the inferential relations between hypotheses and theories.

Question 14

An argument is a collection of sentences consisting of

A) all true statements.
B) one or more premises and a conclusion.
C) verbal disputes carried out with greater or less ferocity.
D) at least one scientific hypothesis.

Question 15

Logicians are primarily concerned with

A) inferential relations.
B) truth and falsity.
C) metaphysics.
D) None of the above

Question 16

In philosophy, validity is a term that refers to

A) the truth of statements.
B) the plausibility of statements.
C) relations among statements.
D) Both a and b

Question 17

A valid deductive argument is one in which

A) the premises are all true.
B) the conclusion is true.
C) the truth of the premises supports the likely truth of the conclusion.
D) it is impossible for the conclusion to be false if the premises are true.

Question 18

To test for validity, students of logic can try

A) determining whether the premises are true.
B) determining whether the conclusion is true.
C) negating the conclusion while assuming the truth of the premises.
D) All of the above

Question 19

In inductive reasoning, one relies on

A) similar, observed cases to infer that the same event or property will recur.
B) premises that, if true, guarantee the truth of a conclusion.
C) misleading statements in support of a conclusion.
D) premises without a conclusion.

Question 20

The reasoning method of using facts to infer a conclusion on the grounds that the claim made by the conclusion would explain all the facts presented is called

A) hypothesis testing.
B) inference to the best explanation.
C) deductive reasoning.
D) argument analysis.

Question 21

Inference to the best explanation is a kind of __________ inference.

A) deductive
B) non-deductive
C) irrational
D) non-deductive and irrational.

Question 22

According to the chapter, the first step in evaluating a piece of reasoning is to

A) add needed unstated assumptions.
B) appraise its success or failure.
C) find the conclusion.
D) naively accept the argument.

Question 23

Why is it easier to establish that a hypothesis is false by the experimental method than that it is true?

Question 24

Explain the difference between direct observation of a cause and indirect observation of its expected effects using examples from the reading.

Question 25

Carl G. Hempel was an OB/GYN.

Question 26

Modus tollens is a fallacy.

Question 27

The fallacy of affirming the consequent

A) is deductively valid.
B) is a way of disconfirming a hypothesis.
C) may involve a true test implication.
D) is the same as modus tollens.

Question 28

Define and explain the main factors that contribute to hostility toward the sciences.

Question 29

Are antiscience sentiments irrational? Why or why not?

Question 30

Do the sciences necessarily lead us to see the world as devoid of meaning and purpose? Why or why not?

Question 31

Hostility toward science is highly uncommon.

Question 32

Hostility toward science has no important effect on public policy decision-making.

Question 33

Hostility toward science has important effects on our ability to make good use of scientific knowledge.

Question 34

Antiscientism is exacerbated by public disagreement among scientists.

Question 35

The sciences have proved that the earth is the center of the universe.

Question 36

The sciences have challenged the view that the universe has meaning.

Question 37

Some regard unsuccessful predictions and interventions as grounds for doubt about the sciences.

Question 38

Antiscientism grows out of a desire to preserve what the sciences seem to threaten.

Question 39

Science doesn't threaten central aspects of anyone's way of life.

Question 40

Antiscientism is exacerbated when experts cannot be distinguished from the ignorant.

Question 41

Antiscience sentiments

A) should be regarded as wholly irrational.
B) have no impact on public policy decisions.
C) grow only out of religious beliefs.
D) grow out of a desire to preserve what the sciences seem to threaten.

Question 42

According to the chapter, antiscience sentiments are

A) common.
B) rare everywhere in the world.
C) rare in most developed countries.
D) rare in the United States.

Question 43

Public disagreement among scientists

A) exacerbates antiscience sentiments.
B) does not exacerbate antiscience sentiments.
C) does not exist.
D) Both b and c

Question 44

According to Barker and Kitcher, worries about the human implications of the scientific worldview can be traced back to

A) the earliest success of physics in the early modern period.
B) the development of quantum physics.
C) the development of cognitive science.
D) the Big Bang.

Question 45

Barker and Kitcher claim that before the Scientific Revolution, Europeans lived in a world that they understood to be

A) part of a vast universe.
B) at the fringes of the universe.
C) filled with meaning and purpose.
D) devoid of meaning and purpose.

Question 46

Barker and Kitcher claim that the evidence that supports the sciences is

A) obvious to everyone.
B) easy to explain thoroughly and lucidly.
C) difficult to explain thoroughly and lucidly.
D) impossible to explain.

Question 47

According to the chapter, the sense of meaning and purpose inherent in the worldview of prescientific Europe was

A) primarily a source for good.
B) preferable to our current understanding of the world.
C) involved in the justification of an oppressive class structure.
D) Both a and b

Question 48

According to the chapter, the emergence of modern science led to

A) liberating people from an oppressive class structure.
B) giving meaning and purpose to our lives.
C) fully explaining the nature of the human soul.
D) All of the above

Question 49

According to the chapter, people are apt to develop antiscience sentiments when

A) science threatens their way of life.
B) there is public disagreement among scientists.
C) scientific predictions and interventions are less successful.
D) All of the above

Question 50

According to the chapter, science challenges people to give up

A) some of their normal practices.
B) common-sense beliefs about the world.
C) deities.
D) All of the above