Question 1. 1. (TCOs 3, 6, 7, 9) Here is a passage that contains a rhetorical fallacy.
Name that fallacy, and in a paragraph, explain why the argument is irrelevant to the point of the passage. Here is your example for this question:
Republican says, "What do you think of our party's new plan for Medicare?"
Democrat says, "I think it is pretty good, as a matter of fact."
Republican, "Oh? Why is that?"
Democrat, "Because you Republicans haven't even offered a plan, that's why!"
Question 2. 2. (TCOs 5, 8) In the example below, identify the presumed cause and the presumed effect. Does the example contain or imply a causal claim, a hypothesis, or an explanation that cannot be tested?
If it does fall into one of those categories, tell whether the problem is due to vagueness, circularity, or some other problem of language.
Also tell whether there might be some way to test the situation, if it is possible at all.
Here is your example:
Our class instructor has blue eyes, because she had them in a previous incarnation.
Question 3. 3. (TCOs 2, 4) Explain in what way the thinking of the following statement is wrong or defective. Give reasons for your judgment.
I believe that violent video games contribute to sexual violence and other forms of antisocial behavior. No one has ever shown that it doesn't.
Question 4. 4. (TCOs 3, 9) Can a person belong to more than one culture at the same time? If so, does this create any logical difficulty for moral relativists?
Question 5. 5. (TCOs 6, 7, 9) Here is a short essay about an investigation.
Here are also four questions/tasks write a paragraph to answer each one of them:
1. Identify the causal hypothesis at issue.
2. Identify what kind of investigation it is.
3. There are control and experimental groups. State the difference in effect (or cause) between the control and experimental groups.
4. State the conclusion that you think is warranted by the report.
Does jogging keep you healthy? Two independent researchers interested in whether exercise prevents colds interviewed 20 volunteers about the frequency with which they caught colds. The volunteers, none of who exercised regularly, were then divided into two groups of 10, and one group participated in a six-month regimen of jogging three miles every other day. At the end of the six months, the frequency of colds among the joggers was compared both with that of the nonjoggers and with that of the joggers prior to the experiment. It was found that, compared with the nonjoggers, the joggers had 25% fewer colds. The record of colds among the joggers also declined in comparison with their own record prior to the exercise program.
Question 6. 6. (TCOs 3, 4, 6) Read this passage below. When you have done so, answer these three questions, writing a paragraph for each question.
Your three questions are:
1. What issue is the author addressing?
2. If the author is supporting a position with an argument, restate the argument in your own words.
3. What rhetorical devices does the author employ in this text?
The Passage:
"Another quality that makes [Texas Republican and former Congressman] Tom DeLay an un-Texas politician is that he's mean. By and large, Texas pols are an agreeable set of less-than-perfect humans and quite often well-intentioned. As Carl Parker of Port Arthur used to observe, if you took all the fools out of the [legislature], it would not be a representative body any longer. The old sense of collegiality was strong, and vindictive behavior punishing pols for partisan reasons was simply not done. But those are Tom DeLay's specialties, his trademarks. The Hammer is not only genuinely feared in Washington, he is, I'm sorry to say, hated."
-excerpt from a column by Molly Ivins, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
Question 7. 7. (TCOs 7, 8) Read this passage below. When you have done so, answer the question in at least one full paragraph, giving specific reasons.
The Passage:
Elizabeth has a paper due tomorrow morning. She has tried to write something for hours, but has no ideas for a good paper. Elizabeth remembers that her sorority sister, Deb, said that Elizabeth could use any of Deb's papers in their sorority house computer. Elizabeth remembers that Deb wrote a paper on the very same topic the previous semester. Elizabeth decides to get Deb's paper off the sorority house computer and leave a note telling Deb what she has done. Elizabeth feels confident that she has Deb's permission to do this. Is Elizabeth guilty of plagiarizing?
Question 8. 8. (TCOs 6, 7, 9) Read this passage below. When you have done so, answer these three questions, writing a paragraph for each question.
Your three questions are:
1. What premises is the author using?
2. What conclusions does the author come to?
3. Does the passage contain any errors in reasoning?
Either one thinks that there is no reason for believing any political doctrine or one sees some reason, however shaky, for the commitment of politics. If a person believes that political doctrines are void of content, that person will be quite content to see political debates go on, but won't expect anything useful to come from them. If we consider the other case, that there is a patriotic justification for a political belief, then what? If the belief is that a specific political position is true, then one ought to be intolerant of all other political beliefs, since each political "position" must be held to be false relative to the belief one has. And since each political position holds out the promise of reward for any probability of its fixing social problems, however small, that makes it seem rational to choose it over its alternatives. The trouble, of course, is that the people who have other political doctrines may hold theirs just as strongly, making strength of belief itself invalid as a way to determine the rightness of a political position.