Reference no: EM133528308

Reading One: Salmon, The Scope of Logic

Question One: In philosophy, what is an argument? What is the difference between a valid argument and a sound argument?

Reading Two: Sagan, The Fine Art of Baloney Detection

Question Two: According to Sagan, what makes people so easily believe things that aren't true? Do you think he is right?

Question Three: In the reading, J.Z. Knight claims to be in contact with a 35,000 year-old spirt named "Ramtha." Why is Sagan skeptical of this claim? What kind of evidence would Sagan accept as proof that Ramtha was real? What kind of evidence would you accept?

Question Four: Identify each of the following informal fallacies:

1.  We can't legalize sale of marijuana, because that will lead to the legalization of cocaine and heroin.
2. I ate the chicken salad and now I am sick, so the chicken salad must have made me sick.
3. We must have freedom of speech so people can say what they want.
4. We can either stop using cars or destroy the earth.
5. People who don't support increased school funding must hate children.
6. No one has ever proved UFOs are not real, so the earth must have been visited by aliens
7. My pediatrician says that I should vaccinate my kids, but I don't trust her because she is not a mother.

Question Five: Provide your own example(s) of a fallacy that you can identify.