Argument Assessment Flashcards

A study finds that students who eat breakfast score higher on tests. A parent concludes: 'To improve my child's test scores, I should make sure they eat breakfast.' This reasoning is best described as:

Answer: An inductive inference that may be reasonable but could have confounding factors

The parent's conclusion is a reasonable inductive inference from the data, though correlation does not establish causation and other factors (e.g., family stability) may explain both variables.

Which of the following best illustrates the fallacy of 'appeal to ignorance' (argumentum ad ignorantiam)?

Answer: Claiming something must be true because no one has proven it false

Appeal to ignorance treats the absence of disproof as sufficient evidence for truth, which is a logical error — lack of evidence against is not evidence for.

To identify the 'main conclusion' of a complex argument, a critical thinker should look for:

Answer: The claim that the other statements are intended to support, often signaled by words like 'therefore' or 'thus'

The conclusion is the claim that all the reasons (premises) are meant to establish, and conclusion indicators like 'therefore,' 'hence,' or 'so' often signal it.

An argument is evaluated as 'valid' but 'unsound.' What does this mean?

Answer: The logical structure is correct (conclusion follows from premises), but at least one premise is false

A valid but unsound argument has proper logical structure, but one or more of its premises are actually false, so the conclusion may not be true.

Which strategy is MOST effective for critically assessing the strength of a causal claim?

Answer: Considering whether alternative explanations, confounding variables, or reverse causation could account for the observed correlation

Rigorous causal assessment requires ruling out competing explanations, including confounds, coincidence, and reverse causation, not just accepting correlation.

A defense attorney argues: 'My client cannot be guilty of fraud because he volunteers at a food bank every weekend.' This argument is an example of:

Answer: Both B and C

Volunteering is irrelevant to whether the defendant committed fraud; the argument redirects attention with character evidence that does not logically address the charge, making it both a red herring and an irrelevant conclusion.

A researcher argues that because every culture throughout history has had some form of music, music must fulfill a fundamental biological need. Which best evaluates this argument?

Answer: It is an inductive argument that is moderately strong but could be weakened if universality is shown to reflect cultural diffusion rather than independent biological drive

The argument is inductive and has some strength, but the inference from universal presence to biological necessity is challenged by the possibility that music spread culturally rather than arising independently from biology.