Chapter 8 Practice Quiz

. One of the primary ways that an enumerative argument can fail to be strong is if ________

the sample size is too large.

the sample is unrepresentative.

an opinion poll is used.

All of the above can weaken an enumerative argument.

. "I listened to Bach, and the next day I had a great idea for my philosophy essay; therefore, it is true that listening to Bach is good for your intellect." The preceding sentence commits the error of ________

confusing cause and effect.

hasty generalization.

biased sample.

post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

. Consider the following claim: "Of the current employees that were interviewed, 70 per cent reported being highly satisfied with their work environment." The target group is ________

current employees.

current employees that were interviewed.

current employees that reported being highly satisfied with their work environment.

current employees that were not interviewed.

. Consider the following argument: "I have not enjoyed most of Seth Rogan's movies. The Interview is a movie starring Seth Rogan. So, most likely, I will not enjoy The Interview." This argument is best construed as ________

an invalid categorical syllogism.

a statistical syllogism.

an enumerative induction.

an argument by analogy.

. All of the following are important considerations when evaluating a statistical syllogism, EXCEPT ________

the acceptability of the premises.

the strength of the generalization being offered.

whether the sample is random.

whether the conclusion falls short of being a necessary consequence of the premises.

. Hasty generalization is the fallacy of drawing a conclusion about a target group on the basis of a sample that is ________

too small.

unrepresentative.

biased.

too large.

. A causal condition must be ________

either a necessary or a sufficient condition.

a sufficient condition.

both a necessary and a sufficient condition.

a necessary condition.

. Suppose it is true that "ethanol will freeze only if the temperature drops below -114°C." "The temperature drops to below -114°C" is then ________

a necessary condition of ethanol freezing.

a sufficient condition of ethanol freezing.

both necessary and sufficient for ethanol freezing.

neither necessary nor sufficient for ethanol freezing.

. Suppose it is true that Ling is a Philosophy major, and that it is true that 94 per cent of Philosophy majors love the sport of fencing. Then we can infer that ________

it is certain that Ling loves fencing.

it is very likely that Ling loves fencing.

most of Ling's friends love fencing.

we need to know more about Ling to reach any reasonable conclusion.

. Suppose you poll philosophy students at the annual Philosophy Students' Ball at your university and your data shows that of the 450 philosophy majors, 133 attended the ball and answered your question, and that 76 of those who answered say that they attend a church, mosque, or synagogue at least once per week. Then, you can reliably infer that ________

exactly 57 per cent of philosophy majors at your university attend a church, mosque, or synagogue at least once per week.

(assuming a confidence level of 95 per cent) somewhere between 47 per cent and 67 per cent of philosophy majors at your university attend a church, mosque, or synagogue at least once per week.

many philosophy majors are Sikhs, Hindus, or Buddhists.

some philosophy majors attend weekly religious services.

. ________ is NOT a type of causal confusion.

Confusing coincidence with cause

Post hoc fallacy

Correlation

Ignoring the common causal factor

. "Mill's methods" are ________

surgical methods designed to prevent infectious disease.

methods for evaluating causal arguments.

methods for honing our extrasensory perception.

natural treatment options.

. An inductive argument whose conclusion contains a causal claim is called ________

a causal argument.

an inference to the best explanation.

enumerative induction.

analogical induction.

. ________ is NOT one of the criteria we can use to judge the strength of arguments by analogy.

Relevant similarities

Relevant dissimilarities

Diversity among cases

Mishandling multiple factors

. When evaluating statistical syllogisms, we do NOT need to consider ________

whether the condition is necessary or sufficient.

whether the individual being reasoned about is typical.

whether the premises are acceptable.

statistical strength.

. An analogical argument is an inductive argument where the sufficient condition is the conclusion of the argument.

True

False

. A sample is biased only if it fails to resemble the target group in every relevant respect.

True

False

. If it is true that alcoholism is correlated with depression, then it must also be true that depression is a cause of alcoholism.

True

False

. Selective attention refers to the tendency to observe and remember things that reinforce our beliefs and to gloss over and dismiss things that undercut those beliefs.

True

False

. We can reduce the margin of error in a given survey by reducing its confidence level.

True

False

. In an analogical induction, the more similarities the two objects being compared share, the higher the probability that the conclusion is true.

True

False

. A self-selecting sample usually tells you very little about the target population.

True

False

. Self-selecting samples are not likely to be representative of the target population.

True

False

. If the target population is very uniform, then it may not be necessary to have a large sample size.

True

False

. A sufficient condition for the occurrence of an event is one without which the event cannot occur.

True

False

. A sufficient condition for the occurrence of an event is one that guarantees that the event occurs.

True

False

. Any very strong correlation is indicative of a causal relationship.

True

False

. Inference to the best explanation is a very powerful and versatile form of inductive reasoning.

True

False

. Analogies may be both unforgettable and moving, but they can never form the basis of a strong inductive argument.

True

False

. The observed members of a target group are called ________

the sample members, or sample.

the property in question.

the relevant property.

agreement and difference.

. A representative sample must resemble the target group in ________

at least two ways.

all the ways that matter.

every respect.

some respects.

. Mill's method of correlation says that when two events are correlated, they are ________

not causally related.

uncaused.

probably causally related.

unrelated.

. Given the ordinary laws of statistics, incredible coincidences are ________

always evidence of causal connections.

evidence of the paranormal.

common and must occur.

impossible.

. The rule of thumb for distinguishing coincidence from cause and effect is ________

don't assume that a causal connection exists unless your assumption is beyond doubt.

there is no such thing as coincidence.

don't ever assume that a causal connection exists.

don't assume that a causal connection exists unless you have good reason for doing so.

. A sample that is selected randomly from a target group in such a way as to ensure that the sample is representative is known as a ________

negative sample.

empty sample.

targeted sample.

random sample.

. When we reason from observations about some members of a group and end with a generalization about the whole group, we are using ________

statistical syllogism.

enumerative induction.

deductive reasoning.

analogical reasoning.

. The probability that the sample will accurately represent the target group within the margin of error is called the ________

margin of error.

random sample.

polling bias.

confidence level.

. The most common value among a series of values is called the ________

mode.

relevant property.

median.

mean.

. The middle point of a series of values (in which half the values are above the point and half the values are below the point) is known as the ________

mean.

margin of error.

median.

mode.

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