PHIL 447 Complete Week Discussions Latest
PHIL 447 Complete Week Discussions Latest
PHIL 447 Week 1 Discussion 1
Making Claims (graded)
Explain how you would teach the difference between subjective claims and objective claims (Moore & Parker, p. 4-5) to someone who had never heard of critical thinking. Give specific details in your answer.
PHIL 447 Week 1 Discussion 2
Cognitive Biases (graded)
Review the section of Chapter 1 on Cognitive Biases. Find an example of one of the biases, identify the bias, and explain the distortion it causes. You may choose your example from personal experience, something you have read, heard on the radio, or seen on TV or the Internet. Be sure to cite your source if needed.
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PHIL 447 Week 2 Discussion 1
Premises and Conclusions (graded)
Let’s spend some time sorting out the premises and conclusions in some examples.
Choose one of the statements below. Your task is to identify the premise(s) and conclusion(s) of your example and to negotiate among yourselves if you disagree. Additionally, discuss whether the argument is inductive or deductive. If the argument is inductive, discuss the strength or weakness of the argument. If it is deductive, then discuss if it is valid. Keep mind that only a deductive argument can be valid. This exercise works best if students do not all choose the first example. If one example has been well discussed, choose a different example to discuss.
Here are the examples:
1. Chances are I’ll be carded at JJ’s, because Kera, Sherry, and Bobby were all carded there, and they all look as though they’re about 30.
2. Seventy percent of all freshmen at State College come from wealthy families; therefore, probably about the same percentage of all students at State College come from wealthy families.
3. I am sure Marietta comes from a wealthy family. She told me her parents benefited from the cut in the capital gains tax.
4. According to Nature magazine, today’s thoroughbred racehorses do not run any faster than their grandparents did. But human Olympic runners are at least 20% faster than their counterparts of 50 years ago. Most likely, racehorses have reached their physical limits but humans have not.
5. “Let me demonstrate the principle by means of logic,” the teacher said, holding up a bucket. “If this bucket has a hole in it, then it will leak. But it doesn’t leak. Therefore, obviously, it doesn’t have a hole in it.”
6. We shouldn’t take a chance on this new candidate. She’s from Alamo Polytech, and the last person we hired from there was rotten.
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PHIL 447 Week 2 Discussion 2
Defining Terms and How We Do It (graded)
In this week’s lecture, we read about Socrates’ concern for defining undefined terms as the first step in critical thinking.
Choose one of the statements below. Your task is to determine how the term is used to define your chosen example, and whether the definition is by example, by synonym, by an analytical definition. If you experience difficulty in determining which method of definition is being used, describe the difficulty and try to negotiate agreement with other class members. This exercise works best if students do not all choose the first example. If one example has been well discussed, choose a different example to discuss.
And here are the examples:
1. Decaffeinated means without caffeine.
2. Steve Martin is my idea of a successful philosophy major.
3. The Cheyenne perfectly illustrate the sort of Native Americans who were Plains Indians.
4. Data, in our case, are bits of raw information collected from survey forms, which are then put in tabular form and analyzed.
5. Bifocals are glasses with two different prescriptions ground into each lens, making it possible to focus at two different distances from the wearer.
6. Red is the color we perceive when our eyes are struck by light waves of approximately seven angstroms.
The kinds of definitions you are looking for can be found at the bottom of page 78, top of page 79. You might also want to keep in mind some of the tips that are offered on definitions.
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PHIL 447 Week 3 Discussion 1
Credibility (graded)
List as many relevant (and maybe irrelevant) factors as you can think of that people often mistake for signs of another person’s truthfulness. Perhaps you can tell a story about a notable example. Here is a starter example: the firmness of somebody’s handshake as a sign of their truthfulness (“Handshakes matter,” 2017).
Be sure to state if you think the method is relevant or irrelevant and if you can find any documentation to back up your position, please share it. Keep in mind that an opinion without support can be seen as a baseless opinion. PHIL 447 Complete Week Discussions Latest
PHIL 447 Week 3 Discussion 2
Euphemisms and Dysphemisms (graded)
Report an example of a euphemism or dysphemism that you have come across. Discuss when it is and is not appropriate to use such veiled language. Common subjects for which people use euphemisms are death, physical appearance, and commercials. Common subjects for which people use dysphemisms are politics and news reports.
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PHIL 447 Week 4 Discussion 1
Inventing New Examples (graded)
There is a short list below of some of the most common fallacies that we meet in the Week 4 reading assignments. With your creative thinking caps on, invent (not find elsewhere but invent by yourself) a simple, clear, and original example of the fallacy you have chosen. Write it up and bring it to the online discussion so that everybody can read it and discuss it.
Be sure to name the type of fallacy your example demonstrates.
Here is a short list of fallacies to use in making your choice, though you may use others described in the textbook.
• The Ad Hominem or genetic fallacy
• Strawman
• “Argument” from outrage
• Scare tactic
• Groupthink
• Red herring
• “Argument” from popularity
Have some fun with this. Your invented examples can be either realistic or a bit silly, but they need to clearly exhibit the chosen fallacy.
In the discussion thread, go ahead and speak to the examples that other students have brought in.
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PHIL 447 Week 4 Discussion 2
Baloney Detection (graded)
The astrophysicist Carl Sagan in his book The Demon Haunted World recommended that people be educated in a set of skills he called a “baloney detection kit.” These include such techniques as requesting facts to back claims and seeing whether a claim can be empirically tested. What techniques would you have in your baloney detection kit? Why would they help you distinguish logical and reasonable arguments from lies and nonsense?
[If you would like to see a video on the kit, here one, just under 15 minutes, that goes through the components https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUB4j0n2UDU&feature=player_embedded ]
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PHIL 447 Week 5 Discussion 1
Working With Categorical Syllogisms (graded)
Below are sets of three terms. Use one of the sets to construct a valid syllogism. See if you can phrase the argument using the “Standard Form” (page 247-251) Explain how you decided on the statements for your syllogism. Be sure to see additional comments in the “start here” post for guidance.
A. Dogmatists, theologians, free thinkers
B. African nations, countries deserving military aid, upholders of human rights
C. Pranksters, exasperating people, teenage boys
D. Business attire, expensive clothes, necessary clothes
E. Corporations, unethical businesses, businesses that are never punished
F. Endangered species, animals needing protection, spotted owls
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PHIL 447 Week 5 Discussion 2
Sound Arguments (graded)
A sound argument is deductively valid (correctly formed) and has all true premises. Moore and Parker (2015) discuss in chapters 8 and 9 several ways to evaluate the validity of an argument. Now it is your turn to apply the methods.
Go to a website that provides political opinion, such as the Huffington Post. Find a brief article that contains a clear, short argument. Make sure there is an actual argument, not an explanation or a reporting of facts. What you are looking for can be just a few statements in the article, not necessarily the whole article. Try to construct the deductive argument and state why you feel it is valid or invalid. If the argument is valid, evaluate the argument for its soundness. Keep in mind that only a valid argument can be sound. An invalid one is automatically unsound. Link the article at the end of your response by copying its Web address.
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PHIL 447 Week 6 Discussion 1
Inductive Reasoning (graded)
In America, we are bombarded by opinion polls. Such polls use the method of inductive generalizing from a sample, presuming that the answers given by a small number of respondents represent the attitudes of American voters as a whole. Do a search on the Internet for a recent opinion poll. Paste the results in your discussion response. Look at the report of the poll results and discuss how strong you believe these poll results are. Refer to such aspects of inductive generalizing as the sampling frame, how representative the poll sample was, and how biased the poll might be.
Please see comments in “Please Start Here” before addressing this discussion prompt.
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PHIL 447 Week 6 Discussion 2
Hypotheses (graded)
According to the Moore and Parker (2015), a hypothesis is “a causal explanation offered for further investigation or testing” (p.443). The book provides several methods for testing the quality of a hypothesis [See pages 363-367]. Choose one of the statements below and then use one or more of the three tests provided in the textbook to evaluate the quality of the hypothesis. Identify the hypothesis in the statement, and then say why it is or is not a good one.
1. There were objects flying everywhere in that room. Either an earthquake or ghosts could have made those objects move. Since there was no earthquake reported, it must have been ghosts.
2. Crop circles are complicated, symmetrical designs formed in grain fields through depressing grain stalks. Because of their complexity and symmetry, they cannot be natural phenomena. These crop circles appear overnight. Since it would take far too long and too much complex planning for one or two people to make these designs, which can be seen only from above, aliens from outer space must be making them.
3. The other day, I was walking in the mall and suddenly remembered an old school friend whom I had not spoken to in years. Not five minutes later, there I was face to face with my old friend. There must have been some deep karmic connection that drew us together that day.
4. Studies show that families who regularly eat their meals together have children who perform better than average at school. Clearly, communal family meals are essential to student success.
Moore, B.N. & Parker, R. (2015). Critical thinking (11th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
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PHIL 447 Week 7 Discussion 1 Latest
Moral Reasoning (graded)
Attach a copy of your rough draft for your Course Project here. In the response box let your fellow students know that you are ready to receive their commentary. By no later than three days after the start of Week 7, post at least one peer review of a fellow student’s essay. Use the Peer Review form you will find in Assignments page this week. Write your answers using complete sentences. Be sure to answer every question. One-word or simple answers will not be considered satisfactory. Post your completed review as an attachment by responding to the post containing the student’s essay.
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PHIL 447 Week 7 Discussion 2 Latest
Chapter 12 in the textbook describes six categories of moral perspectives: Consequentialism, Duty Theory/Deontology, Moral Relativism, Religious Relativism, Religious Absolutism, and Virtue Ethics. Which category of moral perspective do you think best describes your method of making moral decisions? Provide an example to illustrate your choice.
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