Liberal Arts Seminar
Final Exam
Course Introduction
The Liberal Arts Seminar is an interdisciplinary course designed to introduce students to the foundational ideas, critical thinking skills, and diverse perspectives that characterize a liberal arts education. Through the close study of classic and contemporary texts, participation in lively discussions, and engagement with various fields such as literature, philosophy, history, and the arts, students will develop their ability to analyze complex issues, communicate effectively, and appreciate the interconnectedness of knowledge. The seminar emphasizes intellectual curiosity, open-minded inquiry, and the cultivation of informed, responsible citizenship.
Recommended Textbook
Critical Thinking 11th Edition by Brooke Noel Moore
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12 Chapters
1520 Verified Questions
1520 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Critical Thinking,anyway
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107 Verified Questions
107 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Determine whether the following passage contains an argument;if it does,identify the main issue.
"Because real estate is a local investment,I recommend investing within an hour's drive from your home.Personally,I invest within a half-hour drive because then I can properly manage the property and watch it to be sure it is not declining in market value."
-Real estate columnist Bob Bruss
Answer: Argument.Issue: whether you should invest in real estate located close to where you live.
Q2) Identify the main issue in the following passage.If two or more issues are present,indicate how they are related-that is,does the settlement of one depend upon the settlement of the other?
Three-strikes laws work.Once they take effect,prisoners begin asking for copies of the law,parolees from other states stay away,and first- and second-time offenders leave the state.
Answer: Issue: whether three-strikes laws work.
Q3) Determine whether the following passage is (or contains)an argument. You'd better not pet that dog.She looks friendly,but she's been known to bite.
Answer: Argument.
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3
Chapter 2: Two Kinds of Reasoning
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70 Verified Questions
70 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Supply a general principle that,assuming it is true,makes the following into a relatively strong inductive argument: If your only source of information is TV Guide,you are not likely to be very well informed,so Michael is not likely to be well informed.
Answer: Those whose information is limited to TV Guide are not usually well informed.
Q2) Supply a general principle that,assuming it is true,makes the following into a relatively strong inductive argument:
Mr.Zing has a background in psychology.He is bound to make a good chairman.
Answer: People versed in psychology tent to make good administrators.
Q3) The word "so" introduces
A)a conclusion.
B)a premise.
C)sometimes a conclusion and sometimes a premise.
Answer: A
Q4) Sound arguments are deductive arguments that are _________.
Answer: valid
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4
Chapter 3: Clear Thinking,critical Thinking,and Clear Writing
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345 Verified Questions
345 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Determine whether the following claim is best classified as semantically ambiguous (and whether this contains grouping ambiguities),syntactically ambiguous,or free from ambiguity:She watched him dance with intensity.
Answer: Syntactically ambiguous.
Q2) Classify the following:"Bogey is the same as one over par."
A)definition by example
B)definition by synonym
C)analytical definition
Answer: B
Q3) Evaluate the following claim,paying particular attention to problems of clarity.Note that claims may also present problems of knowability,though we don't address knowability per se in this chapter.
I'm not very photogenic-no photograph anybody has ever made of me really looks like me.
Answer: "Photogenic" is not a clearly defined notion,but there probably isn't anything that can be done about it.We doubt that no photograph resembles the speaker;it's more likely that he just doesn't like the way he looks in the photographs.Maybe he just doesn't like the way he looks.
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Credibility
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101 Verified Questions
101 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Assess the following as probably true,as probably false,as requiring further documentation before judgment,or as a claim that cannot properly be evaluated.Consider both the nature of the claim and the source. "[G]ram for gram,trans fat [found in hydrogenated oil] is nearly as bad for your blood-cholesterol levels as saturated fat is....Brandeis University scientists...concluded that trans fats may be worse than saturated fats...."
-Consumer Reports On Health
Q2) If you have reason to believe that an expert is biased,you should reject that expert's claim as false.
The possibility of bias is occasion to question his or her claims,to suspend judgment on them,to give more weight to alternative claims from unbiased experts,and so on-this is different from rejecting the original expert's claims as false.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In a brief essay,provide several topics on which you may not trust yourself to give a totally unbiased judgment,and explain.
Q4) In a brief essay,explain what factors help establish someone as an expert.
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Chapter 5: Rhetoric,the Art of Persuasion
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111 Verified Questions
111 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: The antigun people think that just as soon as guns are outlawed,crime will disappear,and we'll all live together as one big,happy family.
Q2) A)Discuss any instances of nonargumentative persuasion or pseudoreasoning and explain any slanting techniques you find in the following passage.B)Rewrite the passage in language that is as emotively neutral as possible but still retains the same informational content.
"Some of the ill will [at Dartmouth College] has been provoked by a student-run newspaper called The Dartmouth Review.Ten of the dirty dozen who destroyed the shanties [built on the Dartmouth campus as an antiapartheid protest] reportedly work for the six-year-old weekly,a New Right mouthpiece that is run independently of the college and has the support of such leading off-campus conservatives as William F.Buckley,Jr.Considered troublemakers by the administration and many faculty members,and disowned by former supporters such as Rep.Jack Kemp,the Review's editors traffic in outrage and offense."
-Newsweek
Q3) Isolate and discuss the rhetorical devices that appear in the following passage: Handguns are made only for the purpose of killing people.
Q4) Construct eight sentences,each illustrating a use of this slanter:innuendo.
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Chapter 6: Relevance Red Herringfallacies
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163 Verified Questions
163 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify any fallacies in the following passage either by naming them or,where they seem not to conform to any of the patterns described in the text,by giving a brief explanation of why the fallacious reasoning is irrelevant to the point at issue. he:Well,things didn't work out quite the way I wanted,but that's the way life often is. she:That's not my philosophy.Your dreams will come true if you want them to,but you really have to want them to.
Q2) Identify any fallacies in the following passage either by naming them or,where they seem not to conform to any of the patterns described in the text,by giving a brief explanation of why the fallacious reasoning is irrelevant to the point at issue. No,I do NOT believe that a murderer ought to be allowed to live.No way! Murderers have forfeited the right to live because anyone who murders another person has lost that right.
Q3) Identify any fallacies in the following passage. "She is trustworthy;after all,she swears she is,and you can't doubt that."
Q4) Identify any fallacies in the following passage. "Malamutes are difficult to train.Have you ever seen one that isn't?"
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Induction Fallacies
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125 Verified Questions
125 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify the type of fallacy in the following passage. "The rates of prostate cancer among first responders to the attacks on the Twin Trade Towers is higher than for onlookers.Something in the dust obviously causes prostate cancer."
Q2) Identify the type of fallacy in the following passage. "Being overweight can't be all that bad for you.Eighty percent of the population over 25 is overweight."
Q3) Identify the type of fallacy in the following passage.
"I'm reading right here about this high school teacher in Red Bluff? Caught dealing drugs right there at the school? They will let anyone teach these days."
Q4) Identify the type of fallacy in the following passage. "Seals are dying at an unprecedented rate at the very same time ocean temperatures are rising.They are being killed by global warming."
Q5) Identify the type of fallacy in the following passage. "Caffeinated coffee is bad for your nervous system.Just ask anybody,including coffee drinkers."
Q6) Identify the type of fallacy in the following passage.
"I have every right to burn tires in my back yard.It's a free country."
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Chapter 8: Formal Fallacies and Fallacies of Language
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32 Verified Questions
32 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Identify any formal fallacies or fallacies of language in the following passage. The sign says "Cash only this line," and you're paying cash.So you have to get in this line.
Q2) Identify any formal fallacies or fallacies of language in the following passage. Every event is caused;therefore the sum total of events is caused.
Q3) Identify any formal fallacies or fallacies of language in the following passage. If Joel had paid his taxes on time,he wouldn't be audited.But he didn't pay on time,so you know he's going to be audited.
Q4) Identify any formal fallacies or fallacies of language in the following passage. All German Shepherds are dogs,and some dogs are not trained to attack people.Therefore some German Shepherds are not trained to attack people.
Q5) Identify any formal fallacies or fallacies of language in the following passage. If the president is right,we need immigration reform.If the vice president is right,we need immigration reform.Therefore,if the president is right,the vice president is right.
Q6) Identify any formal fallacies or fallacies of language in the following passage. They blame homelessness on the economy,but that's no excuse.Is an explanation clearly being offered as an excuse or justification?
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Page 10
Chapter 9: Deductive Arguments I Categorical Logic
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66 Verified Questions
66 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Translate the following into a standard-form categorical claim:Wherever there's smoke,there's fire.
Q2) Determine whether the following argument is valid by using either the diagram method or the rules of the syllogism. Every vice president has an advantage over his opponent in a presidential election.Senator Junket is not a vice president,of course,so he cannot have an advantage in the coming election.
Q3) Reconstruct the following as a standard-form syllogism;then,determine whether it is valid using either a Venn diagram or the rules of the syllogism. All legislatures are more influenced by the legal profession than by any other,but it is legislatures that make the rules by which the legal profession operates.So the result is that the bodies that make the rules for the lawyers' profession are bodies most influenced by that very profession.
Q4) Translate the following into a standard-form categorical claim:Mechanics make great lovers.
Q5) Translate the following into a standard-form categorical claim:People can't register unless they pay the fee.
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Deductive Arguments Ii Truth-Functional Logic
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85 Verified Questions
85 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Using the letters provided below,symbolize this claim:"If we don't plant from seed,then we can't plant either annuals or perennials."
P = We plant perennials.
A = We plant annuals.
S = We plant from seed.
Q2) For the following argument,assign truth values to the letters to show the argument's invalidity (there is only one such assignment).
~R \(\rarr\) ~Q
~P \(\rarr\) (R & Q)/\(\therefore\) P
Q3) Determine which of the lettered claims below is equivalent to the following:If the gun has a trigger lock,then it can be sold.(This can be easy to do if you symbolize the claims first and have some familiarity either with truth tables or with the Group II rules for derivations-the truth-functional equivalences. )
A)Only if the gun has a trigger lock can it be sold.
B)The gun has no trigger lock,but it can be sold anyway.
C)If the gun cannot be sold,then it has no trigger lock.
D)If the gun has no trigger lock,then it can be sold. Equivalent to C.
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Chapter 11: Inductive Reasoning
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170 Verified Questions
170 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Evaluate the following argument in accordance with the criteria discussed in the text. Since the taxes [on cigarettes] have been going up in Canada,cigarette smoking has been going down,particularly among the young.The lesson here is plain:The best way to reduce smoking is simply to raise the price of cigarettes.
Q2) Evaluate the following generalization(s),identifying sample,population,attribute of interest,and the extent to which the claims involved are knowable.Consider carefully the size and diversification of the sample and the extent to which the population differs or may differ from the sample;remember,what's important is that the sample be representative.
Well,I did rotten in Algebra I last semester,so I expect I'll do poorly in the rest of the math classes I'll have to take.
Q3) Evaluate the following analogical argument:
A conversation:
"You going to vote for Spankey or Howard in the city council election?"
"Howard.As far as I can make out,their experience is the same,and they both take about the same position on the issues.But Spankey was a student of mine.I caught him cheating once."
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Page 13
Chapter 12: Moral,legal,and Aesthetic Reasoning
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145 Verified Questions
145 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) For the following,try to come up with an additional premise that will turn the passage into a deductively valid or an inductively strong argument.Usually this requires adding a general moral principle and,sometimes,an extra nonmoral claim as well.The idea is to guarantee that the "ought" claim follows from the "is" claim. You shouldn't have included that material on the exam.It was never mentioned in class.
Q2) In the following,discuss whether Marina is treating relevantly similar cases in sufficiently similar fashions;identify instances in which the cases are not relevantly similar.
At election time,Marina votes for the candidate she thinks will do the best job-in every election except one.In that race,she votes for her second choice,because she is certain that the best person for the job has no chance of winning and that her second choice is still better than any of the rest of the candidates.
Q3) State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all.
It is not in the best interests of the United States to intervene in local wars outside U.S.territory.
Q4) Evaluate the issue of human cloning from the viewpoint of a virtue ethicist.
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