EXAM QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER 1

Test Bank for How to Think Logically Second Edition by Gary Seay Susana Nuccetelli 1 / 4

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  1

EXAM QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTER 1

Logic and Critical Thinking Review Questions On What Is Critical Thinking?

• Logic is a discipline that studies
• the psychological processes involved in reasoning.
• the relations between beliefs that are the outcomes of reasoning.
• the brain processes involved in reasoning.

Answer: B

• An inference is a relation that obtains among beliefs if and only if
• they are all true.
• they have the same content.
• one of them is supposed to follow from the other or others.

Answer: C

• Whenever beliefs that are logically unrelated are said to be an inference, this is
• a failed inference.
• a strong inference.
• a weak inference.

Answer: A

• An argument is
• the expression of a belief.
• a statement.
• a relation between statements.

Answer: C

• What we have been calling “logical thinking” is
• formal logic.
• informal logic.
• symbolic logic.

Answer: B

• The dimension of logical thinking that has cash value is
• the descriptive dimension.
• the evaluative dimension.
• the normative dimension.

Answer: C

• In the descriptive dimension of logical thinking, we study
• patterns of inference and other logical relations.
• which inferences are good and which are bad.
• rules for avoiding bad reasoning and maximizing good reasoning.

Answer: B

• Formal logic studies inference as a relation
• among beliefs.
• among formulas.
• among neurons in the brain.

Answer: B

• / 4

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  2

• A natural language is
• a language of formulas.
• a language of a population.
• a language of a computer program.

Answer: B

Review Questions On Argument Analysis

• The parts of an argument are
• a premise or premises.
• a conclusion.
• a premise or premises and conclusion.

Answer: C

• An argument in logic is
• a dispute between two hostile parties.
• a controversial claim about which persons disagree.
• a group of statements that attempt to make a supported claim.

Answer: C

• A premise in an argument is
• a reason offered in support of a claim.
• what follows from certain reasons.
• the claim being made.

Answer: A

• The conclusion of an argument is
• a reason offered for a certain claim.
• a relation between some reasons for a claim.
• the claim for which reasons are offered.

Answer: B

• Argument analysis consists of
• argument evaluation.
• argument reconstruction and argument evaluation.
• argument reconstruction.

Answer: B

• Arguments
• always have premise and conclusion indicators.
• sometimes have premise and conclusion indicators.
• never have premise and conclusion indicators.

Answer: B

• “Since” is
• always a premise indicator.
• sometimes a conclusion indicator.
• sometimes a premise indicator.

Answer: C

• / 4

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.  3

• “So” is
• always a premise indicator.
• sometimes a conclusion indicator.
• sometimes a premise indicator.

Answer: B

• “Therefore” is
• a mostly reliable conclusion indicator.
• a mostly reliable premise indicator.
• a mostly unreliable conclusion indicator.

Answer: A

• To determine whether a passage amounts to an argument, you have to ask yourself
• does it contain a claim?
• does it contain a reason or reasons?
• does it contain a claim that’s being made and reasons to support it?

Answer: C

• A premise of an argument is offered to
• support a conclusion.
• make a claim.
• raise doubts about the argument’s conclusion.

Answer: A

• The number of premises in an argument is
• one premise.
• two premise.
• at least one.

Answer: C

• In an unreconstructed argument,
• the premises always come last.
• the conclusion always comes last.
• the conclusion could come first, last, or between premises.

Answer: C

• In a reconstructed argument,
• the premises always come last.
• the conclusion always comes last.
• the conclusion could come first, last, or between premises.

Answer: B

• Reconstructing an argument is
• all there is to argument analysis.
• the first step in argument analysis.
• the last step in argument analysis.

Answer: B

• Evaluating an argument is
• all there is to argument analysis.
• the first step in argument analysis.
• the second step in argument analysis.

Answer: C

• / 4