1. REVIEW PRACTICE & APPLICATIONS

2. Remember that premises are relevant and irrelevant with regard to particular conclusions. Does your justification warrant the conclusion you’re thinking of? Does it support something else? General Critical Thinking

3. Do you accept the conclusion? Why or why not? P1) We have found that cities with more fire engines have the greatest fires. C) Investing in more fire engines only causes a greater chance of fire. General Critical Thinking

4. Do you accept the conclusion? Why or why not? P1) In the New Hebrides Islands, there was found to be a clear correlation between lice and health. All the healthy people had lice, while the sick ones were free of lice. C) We should infer that lice cause good health, and the loss of lice causes sickness. General Critical Thinking

5. TRUE/FALSE? If a valid argument has all true premises, then it’s possible for the conclusion to be true and possible for it to be false. FALSE

6. TRUE/FALSE? If an argument is sound, then it must have a true conclusion. TRUE

7. TRUE/FALSE? It's impossible for a valid argument to have a false conclusion. FALSE

8. Uncertainty in Language

9. Consider the assertion: Elderly bus patrons must sit in the first three rows of seats. What kind of uncertainty is present in the above statement? a) Ambiguity b) Vagueness

10. Uncertainty in Language Consider the assertion: Elderly bus patrons must sit in the first three rows of seats. What kind of uncertainty is present in the above statement? a) Ambiguity b) Vagueness

11. Uncertainty in Language Consider the headline: “Infant pulled from wrecked car involved in short police pursuit” Ambiguity? Vagueness? Both?

12. Uncertainty in Language Consider the headline: “Infant pulled from wrecked car involved in short police pursuit” Ambiguity? Vagueness? Both Was the infant driving the car? How long was the pursuit?

13. Validity  P1) If there are psychic powers that increase humans’ ability to successfully predict the order of images on a screen, then subjects will score at a rate greater than chance in our parapsychology experiment.  P2) The subjects in our parapsychology experiment scored at a rate greater than chance.  C) So, there are psychic abilities that increase humans’ ability to successfully predict the order of images on a screen. Is this valid or formally fallacious?

14. Validity  P1) If there are psychic powers that increase humans’ ability to successfully predict the order of images on a screen, then subjects will score at a rate greater than chance in our parapsychology experiment.  P2) The subjects in our parapsychology experiment scored at a rate greater than chance.  C) So, there are psychic abilities that increase humans’ ability to successfully predict the order of images on a screen. Is this valid or formally fallacious? [FALLACIOUS]

15. Validity  P1) If there are psychic powers that increase humans’ ability to successfully predict the order of images on a screen, then subjects will score at a rate greater than chance in our parapsychology experiment.  P2) The subjects in our parapsychology experiment scored at a rate greater than chance.  C) So, there are psychic abilities that increase humans’ ability to successfully predict the order of images on a screen. Is this valid or formally fallacious? [FALLACIOUS] In what way?

16. Validity  P1) If there are psychic powers that increase humans’ ability to successfully predict the order of images on a screen, then subjects will score at a rate greater than chance in our parapsychology experiment.  P2) The subjects in our parapsychology experiment scored at a rate greater than chance.  C) So, there are psychic abilities that increase humans’ ability to successfully predict the order of images on a screen. Is this valid or formally fallacious? [FALLACIOUS] In what way? [AFFIRMS THE CONSEQUENT]

17. Arguments – 13 minute ex. COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING WITH A PARTNER: A) Come up with a relatively simple example of an invalid deductive argument that commits the fallacy of denying the antecedent. B) Generate examples of 4 of the 5 following fallacies: 1. Appeal to force 2. Ad hominem tu quo que 3. Slippery slope fallacy 4. Composition fallacy 5. Division fallacy

18. What’s the fallacy? “We are on safe grounds in concluding that the nature/nurture disputes are over when it comes to school performance. Your performance in school all comes down to a matter of innate, inborn capacity. For no one has yet demonstrated that school performance is a matter of environmental factors rather than nature.” APPEAL TO IGNORANCE

19. What’s the fallacy? “Hinckley should not be excused for attempting to kill President Reagan on grounds of insanity; for no one should escape punishment for an assassination attempt on the grounds that he or she is insane.” BEGGING THE QUESTION

20. What’s the fallacy? “My parents have constantly argued that I shouldn’t drink so much, because it will damage my health and hurt my relationships. But their arguments don’t really have any weight. The fact is, they used to drink just as much when they were my age.” AD HOMINEM TU QUOQUE

21. Analogy Practice In the next 8 minutes, get with a partner and: 1) Construct an analogical argument 2) Suggest one potential disanalogy between the analogues and how it affects the strength of the inference 3) Provide one potential counteranalogy to the argument 4) Provide an objection to the argument that commits the fallacy of analogical literalism.