Review for Quiz 2025

 Fallacies

1. Read the following argument: “Of course God exists, because the Bible says so, and the Bible is true because it is the word of God.” a) Identify the fallacy. b) Explain why the reasoning is circular. c) Rewrite the argument in a way that avoids begging the question. 

PETITIO

 2. A student claims in debate: “We shouldn’t take Miguel’s argument about climate change seriously, because he doesn’t even recycle.” a) Identify the fallacy. b) Suggest a more appropriate way to respond to Miguel’s position. 

AD HOM

3. Consider the following statement: “Either you support government surveillance programs, or you don’t care about national security.” a) Identify the fallacy. b) Explain why this argument oversimplifies the situation. c) Propose at least two alternative positions that show the issue is more complex. 

Exercise: A friend says: “No one has ever proved that extraterrestrial life doesn’t exist, so aliens must be real.” a) Identify the fallacy. b) Explain why lack of evidence is not proof. c) Give an example from science where something remained unproven until later, but that didn’t justify believing it existed. 

APPEAL IGNORANCE

5. “Italians are all terrible drivers!” a) Identify the fallacy. b) Suggest what kind of evidence or sample would be necessary to make a stronger generalization. 

HASTY G

Necessary and sufficient conditions

1. “Being divisible by 2 is required for a number to be divisible by 6.” 

 a) Is divisibility by 2 a necessary, sufficient, or neither condition for divisibility by 6? b) Justify carefully: show why divisibility by 2 is required, but also why it doesn’t by itself guarantee divisibility by 6. c) Identify another condition that, combined with divisibility by 2, would be sufficient for divisibility by 6. 

 NEC.

 2.  “Believing in democracy is what makes someone a good citizen.” 

a) Is belief in democracy a necessary, sufficient, or neither condition for good citizenship? b) Analyze why it fails as both necessary (a good citizen may act responsibly without professing democratic belief) and sufficient (belief alone doesn’t guarantee good citizenship without corresponding action). c) Suggest one necessary condition for good citizenship, and one sufficient condition (even if it’s somewhat idealized).

NEITHER

 3.  “Having exactly four sides of equal length and four right angles ensures that a figure is a square.” 

 a) Is this description a necessary, sufficient, or neither condition for being a square? b) Explain why this description is sufficient but not always necessary if we change the context (e.g., in non-Euclidean geometry, or with definitions that require additional properties like being a polygon in a plane). c) Propose another condition that would also be sufficient for a shape to count as a square. 

SUFFICIENT

Mind experiments

For this exercise, I'm providing (in italics, below) a mind experiment based on this example about the American Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg (1861–1865). I want you to construct a mind experiment to explore whether it was causally possible for events to have turned out differently. 

“In July 1863, the Union Army defeated the Confederates at Gettysburg.” 

1. Now, I introduce a counterfactual. It begins with "Suppose that". It alters one relevant cause, factor, or condition. 

Example: Suppose General Lee had received accurate intelligence about Union troop movements before the battle. 

a) Now explain the causal pathway. Analyze how this altered factor might plausibly have changed the outcome. 

Here's an example: “With accurate intelligence, General Lee might have avoided Pickett’s Charge, preventing Confederate losses and perhaps prolonging the war.” 

2. Now, defend the causal plausibility you provide with three points (a, b, c,):  

a) Show why this is not mere fantasy but a serious causal possibility: Was it physically possible? Historically coherent? Supported by the context of the situation?  

b) What does this teach us about causation, necessity, and contingency in history? 

c) Does it show that the outcome of the Civil War was inevitable, or contingent on small changes?

Here is your historic situation:

The assassination of President Lincoln, by John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., April 14, 1865.

a) Do what I did above: Introduce your counterfactual. Imagine altering one relevant cause, factor or condition. 

b) Defend the causal plausibility you provide

Causal and Logical possibility

1. Consider: "Unicorns exist". LP

a) Is the statement above logically possible? Explain why.

 

b) Given the laws of biology and physics, is it causally possible? Explain. 

c) Suggest what conditions would need to change in our world for it to become causally possible.

2. Examine this claim: “A round square exists.” LI --> CI

a) Is this statement logically impossible? Explain.

b) Is it causally possible? Explain. 

3. Consider: “It rains tomorrow in New York City.” LP CI

a) Is this logically possible? Justify your anwser.  

b) Given the laws of meteorology, Is it causally possible in our world? 

c) Compare this case with one that is logically possible but not causally possible (e.g., “It rains diamonds in New York tomorrow”).