TEST 2
argument
premise of an argument
validity
soundness
tautology
contradiction
modus ponens
modus tollens
disjunctive syllogism
hypothetical syllogism
fallacy of affirming the consequent
fallacy of denying the antecedent
constructive dilemma
destructive dilemma
(enumerative) induction
method of addition
method of concomitant variation
Whatever phenomenon varies in any manner whenever another phenomenon varies in some particular manner, is either a cause or an effect of that phenomenon, or is connected with it through some fact of causation.]
method of residues
post hoc ergo propter hocfallacy
hasty generalization
slippery slope fallacy
straw person fallacy
begging the question
fallacy of composition
fallacy of division
against the person (ad hominem)
potentiality:
actuality:
material cause
formal cause
efficient cause
final cause
Review questions to help you prepare for the test:
- Do the premises of a valid deductive argument entail its conclusion?Can the conclusion of a valid and sound deductive argument be false?
- Can the conclusion of a valid but unsound deductive argument be false?
- Do the premises of an inductive argument logically entail its conclusion?
- Describe how to use a truth table to determine whether a statement is a tautology.
- Describe how to use a truth table to determine whether a deductive argument is valid.
- The first requirement a strong inductive argument must meet is to identify a genuine pattern. Explain what this means; give an example of an argument that fails this test and one that meets this test.
- An inductive argument must also be based on the right sort of sample. What does that require? Give an example that meets this test and an example that does not.
- Why isn’t it possible to show by inductive arguments that the future will be like the past?
- 10.Give an example of a causal explanation based on Mill’s methods of agreement and disagreement.
11.What does Mill’s method of concomitant variation (or proportional change) suggest about increases in atmospheric carbon and increasing global average temperature? Does it establish causation conclusively?
12.Give an example of a causal explanation based on Mill’s method of residues (or we could call it “eliminating background factors”).
13.What is the fallacy of false dilemma? How can a valid argument form (“A or B, not A, therefore B”) be labeled an informal fallacy?
14.Give an example of the slippery slope fallacy (you may have heard one or two in high school health class).
15.What is the difference between citing an appropriate authority, in a way that genuinely supports your argument, and falling into the fallacy of appeal to irrelevant authority?
16.Plato believes knowledge must be about a transcendent realm, not about the world of experience. In what way does Aristotle disagree? What is knowledge about, for Aristotle?
17.Why is Aristotle’s understanding of the cosmos called “teleological”?
18.When Aristotle writes about the “unmoved mover,” is this the same as the Christian and Jewish concept of God? In what ways is it different?
19.What are the three levels of soul that exist in living things? Can they exist apart from the bodies with which they are associated?
20.Why does Aristotle reject the idea that a good life is one devoted to the pursuit of pleasure?
21.What is the arête or excellence of a human being, for Aristotle?
22.Explain what is meant by “choosing the mean” in Aristotle’s ethics.
23.What does the opening page of the Confessions tell us about the relationship between God and man, as Augustine understands it?
What does it mean that our hearts find rest only in God?
24.Cite some of the ways in which Augustine’s early education (learning language, enduring beatings) seem to him to disclose important aspects of human nature.
25.What lesson does Augustine draw from the episode of stealing pears?
26.Why does the bishop (last chapter of Bk III) decline to do as Augustine’s mother asks and instruct him in Christian teaching?
TEST 1
Questions to help in your review of the Platonic dialogues:
- Why does Socrates reject Euthyphro’s suggestion that “piety” means “approved by all of thegods”? What is wrong with that definition?
- What does the Euthyphro teach us about what Socrates is seeking? Where should we start in our inquiry? What is the goal?
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- Why does Socrates insist in the Apologythat he did not accept payment for his teaching? What group of itinerant teachers is he thinking about, a group in which many people evidently placed him?
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- What kind of wisdom does Socrates claim to have in the Apology?
5. What does Socrates mean by calling himself a “gadfly” on the body of Athens?
- What does Socrates mean when he says in the Apologythat a life that is unexamined is not worth living? How does this relate to his insistence on “care for the soul”? What did it imply for the conduct of his own life?
- What does Socrates mean when he says in the Apologythat a better man cannot be harmed by a worse man? Doesn’t this happen every day—when someone steals a car or betrays a friend?
- What does the scene of Socrates’ death in the Phaedoshow about Socrates’ deepest values? Why does he accept his death so calmly?
- What challenge does Thrasymachus throw at Socrates in the opening book of theRepublic?
10.How do Glaucon and Adeimantus make the objection even stronger? What does Plato (appearing as the character Socrates in the dialogue) need to show in order to answer them?
11.Why does Plato turn first to justice in the state, not in the individual? Aren’t they completely different?
- 12.What is the origin of the state, according to Plato? Why can’t we just live independently?
13.Why should music, drama and poetry be strictly controlled in the guardians’ education?
- 14.What would Plato say to someone who argues that elementary education should concentrate on math and science, leaving those who are interested to arrange musical and athletic activities if they are interested?
15.What are the three parts of the soul, in the Republic?How should they relate to each other?
- 16.What are the three parts of the ideal city? How should they relate to each other?
17.Has Socrates given us a definition of justice that applies both to individuals and to the state? What is it?
- 18.Describe the first and second “waves” of opposition that Plato tries to answer in Book V – that his call for equal treatment of men and women is unrealistic, and that the guardians will insist on living with their spouses and children. How does he reply to these objections?
- 1 9 . W h a t w o u l d b e n e c e s s a r y , a c c o r d i n g t o P l a t o i n B o o k V , t o c r e a t e t h e ka l l i p o l i s , t h e b e s t state?
20.What is the difference between knowingand merely believingsomething to be true, according to Socrates?
21.Why is knowledge or understanding not possible about the things of ordinary experience? ● we look past the experience to find the form of the experience, to understand why the
22.Draw the “divided line” and identify the four kinds of belief, and the four objects of belief, that fall under each of the four divisions of the line.
23.How does the Form of the Good resemble the sun?
24.How is leaving the cave and emerging into the outside world like philosophical inquiry? Identify at least three parallels that Socrates wants us to notice.
- 2 5 . I s t h e w o r l d o f o r d i n a r y e x p e r i e n c e o n l y a n i l l u s i o n , a c c o r d i n g t o P l a t o ? D o e s i t h a v e a n y reality?
