THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

SCHOOL OFHUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND APPLIED ETHICS

2019 ACADEMIC YEAR FINAL EXAMINATIONS

PHI1020: CRITICAL THINKING

TIME: THREE HOURS

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer all questions in Section A. Choose four (4) questions from
Section B.

SECTION A: |60 Marks]Answer all questions

1. I onlywant a rich husband. My new boyfriend is from the USA which is the richest country
inthe world. So, Ihave met the right man!" What fallacy best describes the bad reasoning?
A. Hasty generalisation
B. Division
C. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc
D. Composition

2. If an argument is truth-preserving, then it is ...

A. Analogical
B. True
C. Factual
D. Deductive

3. IfP vO is true. then

A. Q is true
B. PAQ is true
C. -P is true
D. At least P or Q is true

4 Chris Muller: "In the 2021,Iwant to stand in Vubwiconstituency on the EEF party against
Professor Precious Banda, the current area MP. I have lived in Vubwi and I understand fully
the challenges faced by the community. Ican represent the people better from where
Professor Banda has left off"
 Professor Precious Banda: Chris is just jealous of my achievements as the first female
Zambian to be professor in political science."

What fallacy does the professor commit?

A. Argumentum ad misericordium
B. Argument from tradition
C. lgnoratio elenchi
D. Argumentum ad populum

5. Which of the following is a different argument indicator from the rest?

A. For
B. As
C. Thus
D. Since

6. "Reverend teaches that we must not commit adultery or fornication. Butwe shouldn't take
him seriously because he has impregnated two praise singers he is not married to." This is an
example of ...
A. Amphiboly
B. Tu quoque
C. Argumentum ad populum
D. Red Herring

7. All but one of the following can be used identify an inductive argument. Which is the odd one
out?
A. It is plausible to infer that
B. Therefore
C. Probably
D. It is unlikely that
8 - W’ Z

The above argument is the form of...

A. Modus Ponens
B. Denying the antecedent
C. Modus Tollens
D. Denying the consequent

9. Wegenerally have good reason to...

A. Deutbt advertising claims
B. Believe all advertising claims false
C. Accept advertising claims at face value
D. Think alladvertising dishonest

10. Which of the following is the odd one out?

A. Equivocation
B. Ambiguity
C. Amphiboly
D. Accent

2
11. Ia stalement or theory is talsitied it mens
| Contradictory eidence was found against it.
B Ividence against it evist but no one has found it yet.
C is analvticall, talse.
D. lecanthink ot some way ot possibly proving it lalse
1' Whicth one is the odd one out in relation to deinitions?
A. Sipulative
B. Snonymous
C. Persuasive
D. Theoretical

I3. T'he Republican President l.ungowe Mwanamwambwa makes the following argument during
the campaigns tor a member of parliament in a by-election. " am the one who controls the
national resources. Ifyou don't vote for our candidate but choose the opposition candidate,
your roads and bridges will not be fixed.
What tallacy does the President commir?
A. Argumentum ad populum
B. Analogical fallacy
C. Argumentum ad baculum
D. Argumentum ad ignorantiam
14.The worst approach to assessing the reliability of news sources is to ...
A. Judge the credibility of allsources
B. Compare the content of several news sources
C. Rely only on news sources that support your existing views
D. Consider alternative views

15. "Dangote is super rich because..."Using the criteria of inference to the best
which of the following is the best explanation?
explanatio,
A. He is a Satanist
B. He is hardworking
C. God loves himn
D. He is a thief

16. Radio Caller:*The current power shortage Zambia is

economy and the buck stops at the President."
experiencing is devastating for the
Bowman Mwanza: "Do not blame President for the power load
experiencing. Surely, you know he's not responsible for filling upshedding
the
you are
Kariba Dam!
What falacy does Bowman commit?
A. The straw man
B. Red Herring
C. lgnoratio Elenchi
D. Arguing from ignorance
17. An inductive argument
A. Always moves from the
specific to the general
B. Is always logically invalid
C. Always has improbable
premises
3
 D. I lways statistical

)is ale il and only it

A PadO haVe the sme ruh value

D Neither Por ) is lale

9 iper Woods is Tumbuka, then blups are blix." This proposition is ...
A. lnvalid
B. lue

D, Antccedent

0, A Silozi-trench dictionary is likely to have ... definitions.

A. Synonymous
B. Ostensive
C. Stipulative
D, Obseure

L
"antais bitter, then water is tasteless." This proposition is ...
A. Fallacious
True
False
D, Antcvedent
lor the following questions, state whether they are true or false.
2?. A rhetorical question can have a truth-value.
23. Sipulative detinitions can be true or false.
24. If an argument is mathematical, it is necessarily deductive.
25, Adeductive argument can be unsound.
26. A syllogism canbe uncogent.
27. If an argument has false premises and a false conclusion, then it is invalid.
28. |Tthe definiendumand the definiens are not co-extensive, then the definition is either too
broad or too narrow.
29. Fault-tinding is the true mark of acritical thinker.
30. 1fa claim is made in an encyclopacdia, it is probably true.

SECTION B: |40 Marks Answer four (4) questions

You arean investigator ina corruption case involving some civil servants. You wake up in the
nmoming to find adead alligator with a note attached to it foot. The note reads, "Stay away from
the investigation." Your neighbours disagree with each other on the phenomenon.
(a) Pamela says the alligator just happcned to die at your door step.
(b) Samb0 says the alligator was placed there by the suspect or the suspect'speople to scare
you.
(e) Chiluba says the alligator was placed there by your dead grandmother's spirit to warn
you.

4
 Using all the relevant criteria for making and evaluating an inference tothe best explanation,
critique cach of the three explanations stating why some explanations fail and some succeed.

2. ldentify the fallacy in cach of the following statements or arguments and explain why 2
logical mistake has been committcd.
(a) Lady to her fiancé: *We should just get married and try to solve our problems
later. You know my mother is hypertensive. If youcall off the wedding now, she
might die."
(b) Nietzsche was personally more philosophical than his philosophy. His talk about
power, harshness, and superb immorality was the hobby of aharmless young
scholar and constitutional invalid. George Santayana,
(c) The doctor said my child would not be able to recover her sight but she did.
Therefore, God restored my daughter's sight.
(d) Eugene: Philosophers do not believe that there is a God.
Hope: Some philosophers I know do believe that!
Eugene: They are not really philosophers; if they were philosophers, they
wouldn't hold such a belief.

3. Explain clearly any five (4) criteria for evaluating adefinition. Give anexample of adefinition for
each of the criteria.
4. Using truth-tables,determine the truth-value of each of the following statements.
(a) If Kenya is not in Zambia, then Africa is in Asia.
(b) Sombo is the class representative and she's female or Usain Bolt is Chinese.
(c) lf you a student is taking critical thinking, then she cannot be short.
(d) Chinua Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart if and only if he was Ghanaian.

5. For the following argument, using criteria for assessing analogical arguments, state whether the
indicated changes would make the argument weaker or stronger, and explain why. The strength of the
argument might not be affected at all. If so, say why it is not affected.
My friend and I have seen many movies together, and we have always agreed on whether thev are
good or bad. My friend liked the movie trilogy The Lord of the Rings. So I probably will like it as
well.

Would this argument be weaker or stronger if:

of the
(a) The only movies that my friend and Ihave watched together arecomedies, and The Lord
Rings is not a comedy.
(b) My friend and Ihave seen very many, very different movies together.
watched The Lord
(c) My friend andIalways watched movies together on Wednesdays, but my friend
of theRings on a weekend.
(d) The conclusion claims that Idefinitely will like The Lord of the Rings a lot.

END OF EXAMINATION