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Philosophy 103: Introduction to Logic
Logic Assessment Pretest Question 5

5. Evaluate the following argument: Mr. Landrum:  As I said a month ago, if Mr. Richardson does not come before the American people, as I have, and show his financial records, as I have, then this lack of action is proof that he has something to hide. Mr. Richardson has not revealed his financial records, so he's not being honest.  a. If Mr. Richardson does not show his financial records, then he has something to hide.  b. Mr. Richardson could still be honest and have nothing to hide but still not show his financial records.  c. Neither Mr. Landrum nor Mr. Stevenson can be trusted.  d. There is no doubt that Mr. Richardson has something to hide.  e. Politicians always disagree, and this example is no exception. Purpose for the Question:  One objective of logic is to develop the ability to evaluate different kinds of arguments. Someone not trained in logic might not notice that in this Argumentum ad Ignorantiam that Mr. Landrum is arguing that since some event cannot be proved, the opposite of that event is the case. This question is designed to find out if a student is clearly aware of the ad ignorantiam fallacy.		Phil 103 02 Archie
		Engl 373 04 Dumont-Poston
		Engl 101 22 Westcott

a. There can be many different reasons why Richardson does not show his financial records. An interesting question is whether upper-level English students in general assess possible motives ahead of the logic of this passage. 

b. This answer is the safest and best conclusion.

c. The choice here would illustrate a student answering the question by trusting  the basis of a prior belief that politicians are not honest more than trusting any logical inference from the passage itself.

d.  This choice represents a student believing the conclusion follows with certainty--a rather serious logical error.

e. Again, this answer would represent trusting a prior prejudice rather than a close examination of what is said.

Evaluation:   The answers to this question are not consistent across upper-level English; however, logic and freshman English are comparable. This type of question quite probably will show a difference in assessment outcomes between logic and upper-level English.

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