Critical Thinking Exam 1 Review PDF

Critical Thinking - Exam 1 Review I. Basics 1. What is a belief? 2. What is critical thinking? 3. What is an argument? 4. What is a premise? 5. What is a conclusion? II. Criteria for Adequacy of Theories 6. What makes one theory simpler than another? 7. What makes one theory have a wider scope tha...

Critical Thinking - Exam 1 Review I. Basics 1. What is a belief? 2. What is critical thinking? 3. What is an argument? 4. What is a premise? 5. What is a conclusion? II. Criteria for Adequacy of Theories 6. What makes one theory simpler than another? 7. What makes one theory have a wider scope than another? 8. What makes a theory testable? 9. What makes a theory more conservative than another? 10. What makes a theory fruitful? 11. Evaluate the theory that birds are not real animals and are in fact cameras spying on us for the bourgeoisie according to how simple it is (on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being least simple), how conservative it is (on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being least conservative), and how testable it is (on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being least testable). III. Cognitive Biases Which cognitive bias is displayed in the following examples? 12. After 2006 more homeowners in Louisiana bought flood insurance because of Hurricane Katrina. However, the risk of flooding was no different from previous years. 13. Frank, a flying squirrel, believes that regular squirrels are slow and stupid. When his nut- finding business is hiring, he does not want to hire Henry (the regular squirrel) to work for him because he assumes Henry will be slow and stupid. 14. Selene is a scientist investigating the theory that a lack of urban planning causes depression. Selene believes the theory is true, and does not consider other possible explanations for depression in areas with poor urban planning. 15. Henrietta gets a C on her Spanish test. She thinks, “I’m just no good at Spanish— everything is awful!” 16. Tufan is in a hurry because he needs to get to the hospital and cuts someone off in traffic. The next day, someone cuts Tufan off in traffic. Tufan thinks, “you’re an inconsiderate jerk!” and honks his horn. Critical Thinking - Exam 1 Review IV. Arguments and Non-Arguments (if non-argument, state which kind?) 17. There are many parliamentary liberal democracies. Some of these include the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Israel, Bhutan, and Trinidad and Tobago. 18. The plaque on the Leaning Tower of Pisa says that Galileo performed experiments there with falling objects. It must be the case that he did indeed perform experiments there. 19. In areas where rats are a problem, it is very difficult to exterminate them with rat poison. That’s because some rats eat enough poison to die but others eat only enough to become sick and then learn to avoid that particular poison in the future. 20. Dachshunds are ideal dogs for small children, as they are already stretched and pulled to such a length that the child cannot do much harm one way or the other. 21. The early internet was dominated by Internet Service Providers (ISPs)--hubs that would curate your internet experience. These included AOL, Prodigy, Yahoo, and others. 22. Snakes are scaly reptiles. They eat birds and mice. A few kinds of snakes are venomous. You can see rat snakes a lot in Georgia. 23. The general rise in rude behavior people have observed in a variety of situations was caused by the stress of the pandemic. V. Find the Conclusion “We must reduce the amount of money we spend on space exploration. Right now, the enemy is launching a massive military buildup, and we need the additional money to purchase military equipment to match the anticipated increase in the enemy’s strength.” 24. Which sentence is the conclusion?