Test Review Sheets

Test 1: Arguments and Language

Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.

philosophy		implicit conclusion
logic		conclusion indicator
inference		premiss indicator
entailment		conditional statement
proposition		explanation
statement		deduction
sentence		induction
argument		truth
premiss		validity
conclusion		soundness
forms of language		types of sentences
functions of language		expressive use
informative use		factual significance
directive use		disagreement in belief
disagreement if attitude		emotive significance
methods of resolution		slanted language
phatic language		performative utterances

Important Skills: be able to work the following kinds of problems

1. Diagram, using the standard method, simple and complex arguments.
2. Identify premiss and conclusion indicators.
3. Identify statements and nonstatements.
4. Identify various kinds of nonarguments.

Important Distinctions: Be able to list differences and give examples.

1. sentence and statement
2. argument and explanation
3. deduction and induction
4. truth, validity, and soundness

Test 2: Fallacies and Definition

Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.

equivocation		begging the question
complex question		false dichotomy
division		composition
appeal to the people		appeal to authority
appeal to ignorance		appeal to emotion
attack on the person		genetic fallacy
hasty generalization		false cause
slippery slope		fallacy
stipulative definition		lexical definition
precising definition		theoretical definition
persuasive definition		ostensive definition
operational definition		genus and difference

Important Distinctions: be able to list differences and give examples

formal fallacy		informal fallacy
connotation		denotation
intension		extension

Important Skills: be able to work the following kinds of problems

1. Identify types of definitions.
2. Evaluate definitions by the rules for definition by genus and difference.
3. Relate the kinds of definitions with the purposes of definition.
4. Classify by a diagram a group of objects or events by intension and extension.
5. Use definitions to resolve verbal disputes.

Test 3: Analogy and Causal Connections

Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.

analogy		argumentative analogy
descriptive analogy		necessary condition
sufficient condition		contributing condition
method of agreement		method of difference
joint method		method of residues
method of concomitant variation

Important Problems: be able to explicate the following questions.

1. Be able to evaluate analogical arguments by analogical criteria.
2. Be able to refute an argument by means of devising a logical analogy.
3. Be able to diagram and evaluate causal connections in terms of Mill's Methods: agreement, difference, joint, residues, and concomitant variation.

Important Distinctions: be able to list differences and give examples.

1. explanatory and argumentative analogy
2. weak analogy and strong analogy
3. necessary and sufficient conditions
4. method of agreement and method of difference

Test 4: Patterns of Scientific Investigation

Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.

science		technology
theoretical science		engineering science
scientific explanation		nonscientific explanation
verifiable hypothesis		falsifiable hypothesis
direct testing		indirect testing
crucial experiment		ad hoc hypothesis
hypothesis		theory
descriptive law		prescriptive law

Important Problems: be able to work the following kinds of problems.

1. What are some of the ways scientific theories are evaluated?
2. Show how the general pattern of scientific research is employed by analyzing a summary of a scientific inquiry discussed in an article from a scientific journal and magazine.
3. Show how the selection of facts is theory-dependent. Explain and identify the hypothetical character of classification and description.

Important Distinctions: be able to list differences and give examples.

1. verifiable and unverifiable
2. observable and theoretical
3. science and pseudoscience
4. facts and theories