CRITICAL SESSION 1

REASONING Number of Questions: 21

Class sheet
1. Every year, new reports appear concerning the health risks posed by certain substances, such as wine, tea,
coffee and sugar. One year an article claimed that wine is dangerous to one’s health. The next year,
another article argued that wine has some benefits for one’s health. Same is true for sugar as empty
calories are necessary for health. From these contradictory opinions, we come to a conclusion that experts
are useless for guiding one’s decisions about one’s health.

a) What is the conclusion of the argument, if any?

b) What premises are given in support of this conclusion?
c) Is the argument strong or weak? If you think that the argument is weak, please explain why.

2. Some teachers claim that students would not show interest in academic learning without the incentive of
grades, and ultimately the incentive of a good grade in future career placement, and the fact that grades
have utility in the monetary world. But students with intense interest in the subject matter would learn it
without this incentive, while the behavior of students lacking all interest in the subject is unaffected by such
an incentive. The incentive of grades, and hence money therefore, serves no essential academic purpose.

a) What is the conclusion of the argument, if any?

b) What premises are given in support of this conclusion?
c) Is the argument strong or weak? If you think that the argument is weak, please explain why.

3. Damming the Godavari River would provide irrigation for the dry land in its upstream areas;
unfortunately, a dam would reduce agricultural productivity in the fertile land downstream by reducing
the availability and quality of water there. The productivity loss in the downstream area would be greater
than the productivity gain upstream, so building a dam would yield no overall gain in agricultural
productivity in the region as a whole.

a) What is the conclusion of the argument, if any?

b) What premises are given in support of this conclusion?
c) Is the argument strong or weak? If you think that the argument is weak, please explain why.

4. In a study, baby apes given a choice between two artificial mothers ~a bare wooden structure equipped
with a milk bottle, or a soft, fur covered wooden structure equipped with a milk bottle—unhesitatingly
chose the latter. When given a choice between a bare wooden structure equipped with a milk bottle and a
soft, fur-covered wooden structure lacking a milk bottle, they unhesitatingly chose the former.

a) What is the conclusion of the argument, if any?

b) What premises are given in support of this conclusion?
c) Is the argument strong or weak? If you think that the argument is weak, please explain why.

5. While it was once believed that the sort of psychoanalytical counselling appropriate for the treatment of
neurotic outbursts including dementia caused by environmental factors is also appropriate for
schizophrenia and other psychoses, it is now known that these latter, more serious forms of mental
disturbance are best treated by medicinal—means. This is conclusive evidence that psychoses, unlike
neuroses, have nothing to do with environmental factors but rather are caused by some sort of purely
organic condition, such as abnormal brain chemistry or brain malformations.

a) What is the conclusion of the argument, if any?

b) What premises arc given in support of this conclusion?
c) Is the argument strong or weak? If you think that the argument is weak, please explain why.

6. If relativity theory is correct, no object can travel forward in time at a speed greater than the speed of
light. Yet quantum mechanics predicts that the tachyon, a hypothetical subatomic particle, travels faster
than light. Thus, if relativity theory is correct, either quantum Mechanics’ prediction about tachyons is
erroneous or tachyons travel backwards in time.

a) What is the conclusion of the argument, if any?

b) What premises are given in support of this conclusion?
c) Is the argument strong or weak? If you think that the argument is weak, please explain why.

(1)
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CRITICAL SESSION 1
REASONING Number of Questions: 21
Class sheet
7. Any course that teaches students how to write is one that will serve them well later in life. Therefore,
since some philosophy courses teach students how to write, any Student, whatever his or her major, will
be served well in after life by taking any philosophy course.
a) What is the conclusion of the argument, if any?
b) What premises arc given in support of this conclusion?
c) Is the argument strong or weak? If you think that the argument is weak, please explain why.

8. Scientists believe that many species adapt to their environment, but the idea that species alter their
environment in ways that aid their own survival, was only quite recently accepted. However, this
characteristic is actually quite common. Certain species of plankton, for example, generate a gas that is
converted in the atmosphere into particles of sulfate. These particles cause water vapour to condense,
thus forming clouds. Indeed, the formation of clouds over the ocean largely depends on the presence of
these particles. More cloud cover means more sunlight is reflected, and so the Earth absorbs less heal.
Thus plankton cause the surface of the Earth to be cooler and this benefits the plankton.
a) What is the conclusion of the argument, if any?
b) What premises are given in support of this conclusion?
c) Is the argument strong or weak? If you think that the argument is weak, please explain why.

9. The increasing complexity of scientific inquiry has led to a proliferation of multi-authored technical
articles. Reports of clinical trials involving patients from several hospitals are usually coauthored by
physicians from each participating hospital. Likewise, physics papers reporting results from experiments
using subsystems developed at various laboratories generally have authors from each laboratory.
If all of the statements above are true, which one of the following must be true?

a) Clinical trials involving patients from several hospitals are never conducted solely by- physicians from
just one hospital.
b) Most reports of clinical trials involving patients from several hospitals have multiple authors.
c) When a technical article has multiple authors, they are usually from different institutions.
d) Physics papers authored by researchers from multiple laboratories usually report results from
experiments using subsystems developed at each laboratory.

10. Journalist: A free marketplace of ideas ensures that all ideas get a fair hearing. Even ideas tainted with
prejudice and malice can prompt beneficial outcomes. In most countries, however, the government is
responsible for over, half the information released to the public through all media. For this reason, the
power of governments over information needs to be curtailed. Everyone grants that governments should
not suppress free expression, yet governments continue to construct near monopolies on the publication
and dissemination of enormous amounts of information.
Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the journalist’s argument?
a) The freedom of the marketplace of ideas is in jeopardy.
b) Preserving a tree marketplace of ideas is important.
c) The control that governments have over information needs to be reduced.
d) Governments have near monopolies on the dissemination of many kinds of information.

11. I agree that Hogan's actions resulted in grievous injury to Winters. And I do not deny that Hogan fully
realized the nature of his actions and the effects that they would have. Indeed, I would not disagree if you
pointed out that intentionally causing such effects is reprehensible, other things being equal. But in
asking you to concur with me that Hogan’s actions not be wholly condemned I emphasize again that
Hogan mistakenly believed Winters to be the robber who had been terrorizing west-side apartment
buildings for the past several months.
Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the argument?

a) Hogan should not be considered responsible for the injuries sustained by Winters.
b) The robber who had been terrorizing west-side apartment buildings should be considered to be as
responsible for Winters’s injuries as Hogan.
c) The actions of Hogan that seriously injured Winters are not completely blameworthy.
d) Hogan thought that Winters was the person who had been terrorizing west-side apartment buildings
for the last few months.

(2)
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circulation of any of the contents of this work is a punishable offence under the laws of India.
CRITICAL SESSION 1
REASONING Number of Questions: 21
Class sheet
12. Last month OCF, Inc., announced what it described as a unique new product: an adjustable computer
workstation. Three days later ErgoTech unveiled an almost identical product. The two companies claim
that the similarities are coincidental and occurred because the designers independently reached the same
solution to the same problem. These arguments are too fundamental to be mere coincidence, however.
The two products not only look alike, but they also work alike. Both are oddly shaped with identically
placed control panels with the same typos of controls. Both allow the same types of adjustments and the
same types of optional enhancements.
The main point of the argument is that

a) the two products have many characteristics in common

b) ErgoTech must have copied the design of its new- product from OCF’s design
c) the similarities between the two products are not coincidental
d) product designers sometimes reach the same solution to a given problem without consulting each other

13. Prediction, the hallmark of natural sciences, appears to have been possible by-reducing phenomena to
mathematical expressions. Some social scientists also want the power to predict accurately and assume
they ought to perform the same reduction. But this would be a mistake: it would neglect data that are not
easily mathematised. Thus would only distort the social phenomena.
Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main conclusion of the argument?

a) The social sciences do not have as much predictive power as the natural sciences.
b) Mathematics plays a more important role in the natural sciences than it does in the social sciences.
c) There is a need in the social sciences to improve the ability to predict.
d) Phenomena in the social sciences should not be reduced to mathematical formulas.

14. People who have specialized knowledge about mental health and psychoanalysis are usually not school
counsellors or mentors. Thus, school counsellors are not effective and mental health at schools may not
be the most important concern of the authorities
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

a) The more complicated the problem of mental health at school is, the less likely it is that a parent will
take help from there.
b) The more qualified a school counsellor is the less effective and child friendly he/she is.
c) Appointing a qualified counsellor at school is not the best use of resources.
d) none of the above

15. The live senses have traditionally been viewed as distinct yet complementary. Each sense is thought to
have its own range of stimuli that are incapable of stimulating the other senses. However, recent research
has discovered that some people taste a banana and claim that they are, tasting blue, or see a color and
say that it has a specific smell. This shows that such people, called synesthesiacs, have senses that do not
respect the usual' boundaries between the five recognized senses.
Which one of the following statements, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

a) Synesthesiacs demonstrate a general, systematic impairment in their ability to use and understand words.
b) Recent evidence strongly suggests that there are other senses besides sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste.
c) The particular ways in which sensory experiences overlap in synesthesiacs follow a definite pattern.
d) The synesthetic phenomenon has been described in the legends of various cultures.

16. the salmon fish in the ganges eaten by humans are more likely to contract gill diseases when sewage
contaminates their water. Under a recent proposal, millions of gallons of local sewage each day would be
rerouted many kilometers offshore. Although this would substantially reduce the amount of sewage on
the banks where the salmon are caught, the proposal is pointless, because hardly any salmons live long
enough to be harmed by those diseases.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

a) Contaminants on the banks other than sewage are equally harmful to salmon.
b) salmon, like other fish, live longer in the open ocean than in rivers.
c) salmon breed as readily in sewage-contaminated water as in unpolluted water.
d) Humans often become ill as a result of eating lobsters with gill diseases.

(3)
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circulation of any of the contents of this work is a punishable offence under the laws of India.
CRITICAL SESSION 1
REASONING Number of Questions: 21
Class sheet
17. People with too much work pressure are generally more nervous and anxious than people who do not
have any such work pressures. This fact shows that this particular combination of personality traits—the
so- called hypertensive personality is likely to cause a person with work pressure to develop high blood
pressure.
The reasoning in the argument is most vulnerable to criticism on the grounds that the argument

a) fails to define the term “hypertensive personality”

b) presupposes that people have permanent personality traits
c) simply restates the claim that there is a “hypertensive personality” without providing evidence to
support that claim
d) takes a correlation between personality traits, social pressures and high blood pressure as proof that
the traits cause high blood pressure

18. Vocational training candidates who feel that they are not succeeding in their careers often drop out before
graduating and go back as farm hands. Last year, however, the city’s vocational college dropout rate was
significantly lower than the previous year’s rate. This is encouraging evidence that the program instituted
two years ago in the college to improve the morale of candidates has begun to take effect in reduce
dropouts.
Which one of the following, if true about the last year, most seriously weakens the argument?

a) There was a recession that caused a high level of unemployment in the city.
b) The morale of candidates who dropped out of Vocational college had been low even before they
reached college.
c) As in the preceding year, more candidates remained in college than those that dropped out.
d) Colleges in the city established placement offices to assist their graduates in obtaining employment.

19. Most antidepressant drugs cause weight gain. While dieting can help, reduce the amount of weight gained
while taking such antidepressants, some weight gain is unlikely to" be preventable.
The information above most strongly supports which one of the following?

a) A physician should not prescribe any antidepressant drug for a patient if that patient is overweight.
b) People who are trying to lose weight should not ask their doctors for an antidepressant drug.
c) At least some patients taking antidepressant drugs gain weight as a result of taking them.
d) All patients taking antidepressant drugs should diet to maintain their weight.

20. Violent crime in this town is becoming a serious problem. Compared to last year, local law enforcement
agencies have responded to 17 percent more calls involving violent crimes, showing that the average
citizen of this town is more likely than ever to become a victim of a violent crime.
Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

a) The town’s overall crime rate appears to have risen slightly this year compared to the same period last
year.
b) In general, persons under the age of 65 are less likely to be victims of violent crimes than persons over
the age of 65.
c) As a result of the town’s community outreach programs, more people than ever are willing to report
violent crimes to the proper authorities.
d) In response to worries about violent crime, the town has recently opened a community' center
providing supervised activities for teenagers.

21. Researcher: People with certain personality disorders have more theta brain waves than those without
such disorders. But my data show that the amount of one’s theta brain waves increases while watching
TV. So watching too much TV increases one’s risk of developing personality- disorders.
A questionable aspect of the reasoning above is that it

a) uses the phrase “personality disorders” ambiguously

b) fails to define the phrase “theta brain waves”
c) takes a correlation to imply a causal connection
d) draws a conclusion from an unrepresentative sample of data

(4)
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circulation of any of the contents of this work is a punishable offence under the laws of India.