Critical Thinking & Logical Reasoning Flashcards

Which sentence draws an unwarranted conclusion?

Answer: She wore a red shirt, so she is angry

Shirt color has no logical link to a person's emotional state.

A 'slippery slope' argument claims that:

Answer: One small step inevitably leads to extreme outcomes

Slippery slope assumes a minor action will trigger a chain of dire results.

Which best evaluates the strength of evidence in an argument?

Answer: Whether the evidence is relevant and verifiable

Strong evidence must be relevant to the claim and capable of being verified.

If all squares are rectangles, which statement is necessarily true?

Answer: Some rectangles are squares

Since squares are rectangles, at least some rectangles are squares.

A speaker responds to a question about taxes by attacking immigration instead. This is a:

Answer: Red herring

Diverting to an unrelated topic to dodge the issue is a red herring.

Which conclusion follows from 'No fish can survive without water; this animal survives without water'?

Answer: The animal is not a fish

Since fish cannot survive without water and this animal can, it is not a fish.

What distinguishes a deductive argument from an inductive one?

Answer: Deduction guarantees the conclusion if premises are true

Valid deduction guarantees a true conclusion when premises are true; induction only makes it probable.