Study Guide for Hour Exam 2
NS4H, Fall 2002

Refer to the Preliminary Study Guide for the Information that will be available on the front page of the exam. The table there lists the Fallacies and related Critical Thinking tools we have covered so far.

Be able to spot and to explain the many ways that bias can creep into our generalizations. Some examples await you on the exam. Be prepared to identify the specific fallacies that generalizations fall prey to, both those given in our textbooks, and those we have coined ourselves in this course.

Our presentations were full of strange and wondrous observations. We have learned that for any observation, there can be multiple hypotheses, or many p's for the observed q. Be prepared to generate multiple p's, given an observation, q. You may then be asked to judge these hypotheses according to the criteria we have offered. You may also be asked to devise ways of testing these hypotheses through the method of Prediction and Testing that we covered. I suggest that you check out the "tidbits" section of the NS4 web site. There may be something there that you will need.

We will revisit the scene of a famous crime. Actually, make that TWO famous crimes. One from the last century, and one from long, long ago. The evidence awaits. You all have been watching CSI, the Discovery Channel, and the Science Fiction Channel, right? Be prepared to prove your case, or destroy the case of your adversary through your brilliant Critical Thinking skills.

Review our examination of Modus Tollens and how we confirm and disconfirm hypotheses. Is there such a thing as absolute proof? How do we know anything? How can we make use of our knowledge of the fallacies of human thinking to make big bucks as a criminal defense lawyer? If you missed out on getting rich in question 1, you may be able to recoup your losses in question 7.

This exam is a little shorter than the last one. Only six pages, and the first one doesn't count.