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Philosophy 103: Introduction to Logic
Logic Assessment Pretest Question 2

2. What is the conclusion of the following passage?  I would guess it's raining because the sky is cloudy, you are carrying an umbrella, your shoes are wet, and I hear thunder.  a. I would guess it's raining.  b. The sky is cloudy.  c. You are carrying an umbrella.  d. Your shoes are wet.  e. I hear thunder. Purpose for the Question:  One objective of logic is to recognize and evaluate different kinds of arguments   This question is designed to find out if a student is clearly aware of the different kinds of logical connectors such as "because" indicating a reason and "and" indication clauses of equal logical status. Question 2 should be answered correctly by all students in the pretest and the post-test.  Possibly, the inductive argument might be misread by a student who thinks the last clause in a passage is the conclusion because they believe "conclusions always come last in a passage. See the evaluation below.		Phil 103 02 Archie
		Engl 373 04 Dumont-Poston
		Engl 101 22 Westcott

Answer Choices: 

Answer a is the conclusion.

Answers b, c, d, and e are reasons offered in support of the conclusion.  

Evaluation: These data do not seem comparable between classes.  Apparently, the logic students have after the first week and a half of class have changed.  Pretests in future should probably be given earlier in the semester.  It's interesting that both English classes choose e as the second most popular choice.

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