Why do some people believe it?

If few people believe in conspiracy theories such as Thunberg OR Reptiods; they are superstitious people, who believe in things, which are beyond the imagination of reality. It is hard to assess why people believe in such false conspiracy theories, whereas no evidence is there to prove it. It is a fact that when fallacies are made in arguments, then people tend to take things true, even when things are not true. The people believing in such conspiracy theories are also misperceiving things due to fallacy of argument.

b.      How would you change believer’s mind?

If someone believes in these false conspiracy theories, then it is easy to change their mindset, because they believe in something, which has no evidence to prove. I would talk to such a person that similar faces of people can also be observed in our daily life, where we think about a friend or family member, with very similar face features like any celebrity. Do we believe that our friend or family member is associated with the celebrity, and the answer is “no”. The same is the case with the Thunberg conspiracy theory. If someone from the old picture is similar to the current personality of Thunberg, it does not prove the claims made by the theory.

6.      (10 pts) Context of comment

a.       Inappropriate or fallacious context

The following statement comes with inappropriate context; “ii.  “75% of parents surveyed say they support increased investment in community sports.” In this argument, the conclusion is false, because it has been supported by the parents, whereas it is not discussing any particular issue of children, rather it is discussing the community sports.

b.      Appropriate context

The following statement, “i.         “This research was funded by the company that sells the product.” can be taken with appropriate context, because it is talking about the selling of a product, and any research about the product has been funded by the company, which sells such products.

7.      (10 pts) Transformative education

I would like to share my thoughts about the concept of Transformative Education. I was amazed to read the ideas developed in this concept, and I was excited to learn new ideas. One particular idea, which really ignited my thought process, was becoming the agent of change. It means that we should not only learn and develop ourselves for our own benefits; rather we should also keep a social perspective in mind too. I always believed that we are studying and learning to make our life better, which is true to some extent, but it was great to learn that looking for personal benefit is not the way to show social behavior, rather social behavior asks for more ethical thinking. Ethical and responsible thinking is where we also keep the society and world in mind because we are part of it, so we should work for its betterment as well.

INSTRUCTIONS

·         ANSWER SHEET:Please do not write answers between the questions below, because I will not print or read them. You may type answers into the Answer Sheet above, or create your own answer sheet that follows a similar format as above. Keep your answer to each question together, expanding space between them as needed – please do not start an answer in a small space and send me to various attachments for the rest of your response.(thank you!)

·         FORMAT:Typing is preferred.  You may use as many pages as you need to provide your answers.  You may include tables, diagrams, bullet points, etc. as well as paragraphs as helpful to convey your responses clearly and accurately.  You can print on both sides of the page if you wish.  Cover sheets are not needed, but please ensure pages are stapled.

·         ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:You may use your textbook, class lecture slides and class notes - but no other resources – on this exam.  You must do your own work and explain your reasoning for your answers.Citations are not needed for this exam.

·         TIME / LENGTH:There is no time limit imposed for working on this exam, so you can pace yourself. My expectations are comparable to giving this as an in-class exam, which I would expect a well-prepared student without any impediments to be able to complete within a 3-hour session.

EXAM QUESTIONS

1.      (20 points) Affirming the consequent of an if-then statement is a fallacy in deductive logic, but can be useful for problem-solving in inductive scientific methods.  Explain how affirming the consequent works differently in deductive and inductive contexts, giving an example of each, and explain the degree of confidence one should have in the conclusions reached in each example.

2.      Identify the fallacies.  (16 points total:  8 x 2 points each, items 2a – 2h). 

Up to 2 point bonus possible for 9^th fallacy correctly named.

The following argument (starting on next page) contains over a dozen fallacies.  Identify 8 of them in questions 2a through 2h. Write/copy the phrase(s) involved on the answer sheet, and then name the fallacy&/or explain why it is a problem.Note that some statements may commit more than one mistake, so the phrase could be repeated in more than one answer.  Bonus:  Identify a 9^th fallacy in the passage.

The feminist argument that pornography is harmful has no merit and should not be discussed in college courses. I read “Playboy” magazine, and I don’t see how it could be harmful. Feminists might criticize me for looking at porn, but they shouldn’t talk; they obviously look at it, too, or they couldn’t criticize it. Many important people, including the Presidents, writers, and entertainers who have been interviewed by the magazine and the women who pose in it, apparently agree. Scientific studies so far have not proved that pornography is harmful, so it must not be harmful. Besides, to be harmful, pornography would either have to harm the men who read it or the women who pose in it, and since they both choose these activities, they must not be harmful. Feminists should take a lesson from my parents—they don’t like loud music and won’t have it in their house, but they don’t go around saying it’s harmful to everyone or trying to prevent others from listening to it. Ever since feminists began attacking our popular culture, the moral foundation of our society has been weakened; the divorce rate, for example, continues to rise. If feminists would just cease their hysterical opposition to sex, perhaps relationships in our society would improve. If feminists insist, instead, on banning porn, men will have no freedom and no pleasure left, and large numbers of women will be jobless and will have to work as prostitutes to support themselves. In light of these consequences, feminists shouldn’t be surprised if their protests are met with violence. Truly, the feminist argument is baseless.

3.      (14 points) Assessing an argument.  Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the following argument, which is a better attempt on the same topic as above. How well has this author defended the conclusion?  Explain your answer, usingany of the strategies we have studied this term.

The feminist argument that pornography is harmful lacks adequate support. First, the feminist argument typically alleges that pornography increases men’s willingness to rape women, or at least to think of them only as sex objects. But this argument ignores the fact that the print pornography industry alone earns more money each year than the entire “legitimate” bookselling industry. For that to be true, there must be many, many men and women who read pornography regularly. And yet crime statistics suggest that not many men rape women. […] Feminists have [also] often argued that the porn industry is harmful to the women who work within it—that many of them are abused and exploited. I agree with them that if an industry is mistreating people, it needs to be reformed, and they are doing a public service by pointing out such abuses. But what sort of reform are feminists proposing?   One suggestion has been made by Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, who argue that there should be a civil rights statute that allows anyone who has been harmed by porn to seek civil damages from pornographers. My concern about this proposal is that although it will not legally be censorship, since the law would not empower the government to stop anyone from producing material based on the ideas it contains, the civil rights statute will have the same effect as censorship. Pornographers may be so afraid of facing lawsuits that many of them will stop producing porn—and a situation where people are afraid to put forward certain kinds of writing or pictures because they will face legal consequences seems to violate the spirit, if not the letter, of Charter protections for free speech. Porn, like books, may express certain ideas about men, women, and sex, and those ideas may have political ramifications—but just as controversial books are protected, porn should be. It may even do more good than harm by provoking thoughtful discussion and debate about men, women, and sexuality. 

4.      (10 points) Consider the following dialogue between a physician and patient.  To what extent does the doctor succeed in justifying this diagnostic technique?  Explain your answer.

Dr. D:  Now for checking your heart. Do you feel that? [pricks patient’s left little finger with a needle].

Patient: Ow! Yes! But what does pricking my finger have to do with heart disease?

Dr. D: The heart is on the left side of the body, and in heart attacks, victims will normally get pain in the left arm.  So I believe that we can predict heart disease by testing the left hand for pain sensitivity.  I compare reactions to pricking the little finger of the left hand to pricking the other fingers.

Patient: Really?  (ow!) That sounds a little wacky.

Dr. D:  No, it’s quite reliable! I send patients with unusual sensitivity in that finger to a cardiologist to follow up.  So far he has found indications of heart disease in only 5 of 32 patients I have sent. But that is because my test is more sensitive than his. I can spot that there is early heart disease before any other known test.

5.      (10 points) Select ONE of the following conspiracy theories (Reptoids or Thunberg) circulating on the internet. 

a.       Briefly explain the lapses in deductive &/or inductive logic, cognitive biases, fallacies or other problems we have studied this term that would lead some people to think that such silly theories might be true

b.      Offer a counter-argument or good reason(s) that might persuade a believer to change their mind on the topic (or, if they are beyond reason, prevent a potential believer from falling for it) 

Invasion of the Lizard People

Reptilian humanoids (“Reptiods”) from a rift in the space-time continuum in the Alpha Draconis star system (near the constellation Draco) are responsible for a worldwide conspiracy against humanity. Some of the world’s most famous dynasties and families throughout history are working alongside these interdimensional shapeshifting reptilians to consolidate power and resources; the list of these accomplices include: the Merovingian dynasty, the Rothschilds, the Bush family and the British Royal family. Much of the evidence of reptoids that followers provide are pictures of world leaders with enlarged pupils or red eye — what non-believers blame on camera flashes illuminating retinas. When “red-eye” photos happen, this signifies that the reptoids have momentarily lapsed in their shape-shifting. In 2013, Public Policy Polling in America indicated that 4% of registered voters believed in the existence of these power-hungry reptoids.

Time-Traveling Thunberg

It has recently been discovered that the teenaged environmental activist Greta Thunberg is a time traveler.  A photo of three children in the Yukon Territory in 1898, discovered in an archive in Washington state, shows Thunberg at a gold mining camp. Thunberg has come back from the future to warn us about environmental risks while we still have time to act.  However, Greta will soon become so frustrated with the 21^st century that she will go (went?) further back to the 19^th century, when the world was a bit cleaner. 

6.    (10 points) Consider how the context of a statement is important to determining bias or faulty logic: words that are appropriate in some situations are illogical or manipulative in others.  For example, “It’s an open and shut case – the accused is guilty” was inappropriate in the opening conversations in 12 Angry Men, where a juror was trying to bully another juror and poisoning the well before deliberations had even started.  The same comment would be much more appropriate, however, as the conclusion of a full review of convincing evidence pointing to the guilt of the accused, such as in a Prosecutor’s closing argument, or after a jury has sifted through the evidence and decided that there are no reasonable doubts about guilt.

Choose ONE of the following statements (i. to iv.) below.

a.       Describe a scenario or context in which the comment would be fallacious or inappropriatesupport for a conclusion,indicate bias, or perhaps be the conclusion of a weak argument. 

b.      Describe a context or scenario in which the same comment may raise an appropriate concern or challenge, may be a persuasive reason to support a conclusion, or may be a reasonable conclusion of a good argument.

                                                              i.      “This research was funded by the company that sells the product.”

                                                            ii.      “75% of parents surveyed say they support increased investment in community sports.” 

                                                          iii.      “The Senator socializes with people convicted of fraud.”

                                                          iv.      “That facility is a concentration camp.” 

7.      (10 points)  Transformative Education. 

Discuss one insight from this term that is personally meaningful for you -- the kind of thing that you will find important long after you forget names of fallacies and how to spell ‘antecedent’.  Describe as clearly as you can what the new insight is, how it differs from what you used to think (or how it is changing the choices you make), and why this new insight is worth hanging onto.  There are LOTS of good ways to engage this question. Examples include:

·         A concept that now has a richer, deeper meaning than it did before (truth, adequacy, relevance, cause, respect, charity, etc.)

·         A new, exciting idea that you had never considered before (an “aha! moment”)

·         A long-held personal belief, behavior or character trait that you are now reconsidering

·         A practical strategy or insight that you are using helpfully in an important area of your life

·         Evolution in your sense of yourself (e.g., your role or responsibilities in discussions or public debates; changed interaction with those who disagree with you; confidence or courage to make a difficult choice)

·         A topic for which you have discovered unexpected curiosity or passion for further exploration

Marks for this response will emphasize your reflection upon course materials (something from this course, rather than general education or growth); the accuracy, relevance and detail of the examples you use; the insight you demonstrate regarding the importance of the material and your awareness of yourself, others, and the world within which you are an active participant, and as always, clarity of expression.

CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING THE COURSE!

I wish you well in all your future adventures.