Midterm Short Answer

Question 1

What are Socrates’ two favorite questions?

Answer 1

1. What do you mean by that?
2. What is the evidence for your claim?

Question 2

What is an argument?

Answer 2

one or more statements, premises, offered as evidence or reason to believe that a further statement, called a conclusion is true

Question 3

Define ‘truth’ according to the Correspondence theory of truth

Answer 3

correspondence with reality, the way things really are

Question 4

What is an oracle?

Answer 4

someone who believed to be channeling the Gods

Question 5

What is an elenchus? and what is its purpose?

Answer 5

Elenchus is an argument form and it is used to show someone’s thoughts are logically inconsistent

Question 6

Why is the elenchus also called Socratic irony?

Answer 6

He would often already know the answers to the questions and would only ask to get the person to realize their logical inconsistencies

Question 7

What are the two steps of the Socratic irony?

Answer 7

Elenchus and Midwifery

Question 8

What did the Greeks mean by ‘democracy’? (etymological definition)

Answer 8

Demos- the people
Kratia - power/Roma

Question 9

What do we mean when we say that P and Q are ‘logically inconsistent?’

Answer 9

P and Q can not be true at the same time

Question 10

What do we mean when we say that they are ‘logically consistent?’

Answer 10

P and Q can be true at the same time

Question 11

In what sense was Socrates a ‘midwife?’

Answer 11

He was the midwife of ideas as he gave birth to the ideas and truth

Question 12

“The unexamined life is not worth living,” said Socrates. What is the examined life?

Answer 12

a life enriched by thinking about things that matter: values, aims, society

Question 13

Character Traits of critical thinkers: Give ten (p. 47-48) based on the following 10 keywords/phrases: truth, ignorance, criticism, listening, questions, biased thinking, ambiguous thinking, Delphic injunction, “Know thyself,” inquirers-informers.

Answer 13

1. Have passion for the truth.
2. Are willing to admit their own ignorance.
3. . Welcome constructive criticism and are willing to admit error if proven wrong.
4. Actively listen to others and seek to learn from them.
5. Ask good questions that that advance the discussion.
6. Notice biased thinking and will challenge it when necessary.
7. Do not accept vague and ambiguous thinking.
8. Are very self-aware and take seriously the Delphi injunction “Know thyself.”
9. Are inquirers rather than informers.

Question 14

Ethnocentrism

Answer 14

an irrational belief in the innate superiority of one’s own society, culture, or ethnic group

Question 15

Bandwagon or Conformism Bias

Answer 15

tendency to adopt certain beliefs simply because many others hold them

Question 16

Availability Bias

Answer 16

tendency to base a conclusion on evidence not because it is good evidence but simply because it is easily available

Question 17

Negativity Bias

Answer 17

he unconscious tendency to attach much greater weight to negative information than an objective look at the evidence would justify

Question 18

False Consensus

Answer 18

unconscious tendency to think that our own beliefs
and attitudes, and those of our friends, are representative of the larger society

Question 19

Externalize

Answer 19

having an unconscious tendency to externalize responsibility whenever we make a mistake,

Question 20

“Man is the measure of all things….” Whose quote is this?

Answer 20

Protagoras

Question 21

What is alethic relativism?

Answer 21

The claim that what one believes to be true is and must be true. Everyone’s truth is right

Question 22

What is ‘global alethic relativism?

Answer 22

the claim that ALL truth, in ALL subjects, is relative

Question 23

What are the logical implications of alethic relativism?

Answer 23

If alethic relativism is true, then everybody is infallible – nobody has ever been mistaken about anything