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Introduction to Philosophy

Review Questions

Introduction to PhilosophyReview Questions
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5.1 Philosophical Methods for Discovering Truth

1 .
What is the general structure of a dialectic?
2 .
What is a statement?
3 .
Offer an example of a statement and its negation.
4 .
How does the law of noncontradiction logically imply the law of the excluded middle?

5.2 Logical Statements

5 .
Offer an example of a conditional, then identify the necessary and sufficient conditions expressed by it.
6 .
What is a counterexample?
7 .
Consider the following conditional: “If you walk in the rain, your shirt will get wet.” What is a possible counterexample to this statement?
8 .
Consider the following universal affirmative statement: “All games involve a winner and a loser.” What is a counterexample to this statement?

5.3 Arguments

9 .
What is an argument?
10 .
What are the key components of an argument?
11 .
Consider the following argument: “Since Jori is allergic to cats and her apartment complex does not allow dogs, it must be the case that Jori does not have a pet.” What are the premises of this argument, and what is the conclusion? What words in the argument indicate the premises and conclusion?
12 .
Explain the difference between a logical analysis and a truth analysis of an argument.

5.4 Types of Inferences

13 .
What makes a deductive argument valid, and how can you test for validity?
14 .
Explain inductive inference, and describe how it is different from an abductive inference.
15 .
How is reasoning from specific instances to generalizations similar to reasoning from the past to the future?
16 .
Explain abductive inference and describe how it is similar to an inductive inference.

5.5 Informal Fallacies

17 .
What are the four general categories of informal fallacies?
18 .
What is the difference between fallacies of relevance and fallacies of weak induction?
19 .
What is problematic with appealing to emotion in an argument, and how does this qualify it as a fallacy of relevance?
20 .
Explain what a fallacy of unwarranted assumption is, and offer an example of one.
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