This Is The Questions. 1. Jack hears on the evening news that several scientific studies have demonstrated that taking acetaminophen causes liver damage. Jack immediately runs to his medicine cabinet and throws away all his painkillers that contain acetaminophen, and he recommends to his friends and family that they do the same. Jack now believes that acetaminophen will cause liver damage in him and his loved ones. Discuss whether Jack’s reaction is justified (is Jack correctly interpreting the claim that “acetaminophen causes liver damage?”). Be sure to use the concepts in chapter 11 to help explain your answer. You should discuss the nature of general causal claims.
2. Determine whether this is an inductive generalization, or an analogical argument. Identify the sample and target, if this is a generalization, or the analogues, if this is an analogical argument. Identify the property in question, and discuss which, if any, fallacy exists in the passage:
Remark made while driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike: “We’ve seen nine cars with license plates from west of the Mississippi today, and six of them have been from Texas. Texans must travel more than other people.”
3. Six months ago, several of Molly’s friends joined the Trimtime Fitness Center. Each of them participated in Trimtime’s weight-reduction and fitness regimen. All reported substantial weight reduction, and all are visibly slimmer. Molly is convinced. She joins Trimtime and enrolls in the same program, hoping and expecting to see the same results. She is especially delighted to learn that Trimtime had adjusted its program to make it even more effective in a shorter period of time. Discuss whether this is an analogical argument or an inductive generalization, and discuss the strength or weakness of the argument, using the appropriate terminology from chapter 10.
4.What is the definition of a “randomly chosen sample” (according to the definition discussed in your text), and what is the goal of randomly choosing a sample?
5. Explain the relationship between error margin and sample size (assuming the confidence level remains the same), why the concept of error margin is necessary in an inductive argument, and how error margin is applied to the target population. You may want to use an example to help explain your answer.
6. Dad is making a “Hunter’s Stew”. The stew includes chunks of beef, potato, carrot and barley in a thick broth full of many hearty spices. As the stew is simmering in a pot on the stove, Son walks into the kitchen and says, “Let’s see if this stew tastes any good!” Son gets a big spoon and begins to dip his spoon into the top of the pot. Before Son has a chance to get the spoonful of stew, Dad yells, “Mix the stew up before you taste it!” For this passage, name the intended sample, the intended target, the property in question, and explain why Son should stir the stew before he tastes it.
7. When Haley’s Comet hovered over Jerusalem in 66 CE, the historian Josephus prophesied it meant the destruction of the city. Jerusalem fell four years later during a failed uprising against Roman occupiers, thus confirming the power of the comet. Is this argument subject to any causal fallacies discussed in the PowerPoint presentation for chapter 11? Explain your answer.
8. Determine whether the following statement is an example of Method of Difference Reasoning or Method of Agreement Reasoning (and briefly explain your answer). Fund-raising director for a public radio station: “I know that our music director hates it when we play classical music. But go back and look at our most successful fund drives; every big day has been a day heavily loaded with classical music.
9. Determine whether the following statement is an example of Method of Difference Reasoning or Method of Agreement Reasoning (and briefly explain your answer). “I had a lot of noise on my car stereo when the engine was running, until I thought maybe that the way to fix the problem is to install a 4MH choke coil in the hot wire from the battery to the stereo. I did it, and it cured the problem.”
10. Determine whether the following statement is an example of Method of Difference Reasoning or Method of Agreement Reasoning (and briefly explain your answer). Sharon has observed that her teacher sometimes seems to be in a bad mood. “Well,” she thinks, “it seems to happen when people haven’t done their assignments. That must be it.”
11. Jack hears on the evening news that several scientific studies have demonstrated that taking acetaminophen causes liver damage. Jack immediately runs to his medicine cabinet and throws away all his painkillers that contain acetaminophen, and he recommends to his friends and family that they do the same. Jack now believes that acetaminophen will cause liver damage in him and his loved ones. Discuss whether Jack’s reaction is justified (is Jack correctly interpreting the claim that “acetaminophen causes liver damage?”). Be sure to use the concepts in chapter 11 to help explain your answer. You should discuss the nature of general causal claims.
12. Determine whether this is an inductive generalization, or an analogical argument. Identify the sample and target, if this is a generalization, or the analogues, if this is an analogical argument. Identify the property in question, and discuss which, if any, fallacy exists in the passage:
Remark made while driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike: “We’ve seen nine cars with license plates from west of the Mississippi today, and six of them have been from Texas. Texans must travel more than other people.”
13. Six months ago, several of Molly’s friends joined the Trimtime Fitness Center. Each of them participated in Trimtime’s weight-reduction and fitness regimen. All reported substantial weight reduction, and all are visibly slimmer. Molly is convinced. She joins Trimtime and enrolls in the same program, hoping and expecting to see the same results. She is especially delighted to learn that Trimtime had adjusted its program to make it even more effective in a shorter period of time. Discuss whether this is an analogical argument or an inductive generalization, and discuss the strength or weakness of the argument, using the appropriate terminology from chapter 10.
24. Bill: “If you don’t believe in God, you’re much more likely to commit suicide. You can tell that by looking at places like Sweden and Norway where there’s a higher percentage of atheists than the norm and their per capita suicide rate is higher, too. ”
What causal fallacy from among the following choices is Bill making (reverse causation, ignoring an underlying cause, post hoc ergo propter hoc, cum hoc ergo propter hoc, ignoring statistical regression)? Discuss your answer.
25.Six months ago, several of Molly’s friends joined the Trimtime Fitness Center. Each of them participated in Trimtime’s weight-reduction and fitness regimen. All reported substantial weight reduction, and all are visibly slimmer. Molly is convinced. She joins Trimtime and enrolls in the same program, hoping and expecting to see the same results. She is especially delighted to learn that Trimtime had adjusted its program to make it even more effective in a shorter period of time. Discuss whether this is an analogical argument or an inductive generalization, and discuss the strength or weakness of the argument, using the appropriate terminology from chapter 10
