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Week 8 · Module overview

Week 8 — Midterm Review & Exam

Critical Thinking Free sample edition

Welcome to your Week 8 Start Here page.

Why this matters

A business major told to either cut a product line or close a store and a nursing student asked on a form whether they have stopped skipping safety checks both need to spot the hidden assumption and ask for its support before they accept the choice.

In plain language

This week you look back at the first seven weeks and see how they fit together. Each topic so far asks for one test (a question you run on a passage) or one distinction (two ideas that sound alike but must be kept apart). You will sort every week by that test, so you know which one to reach for. You will also learn one small new family of mistakes, the fallacies of presumption (arguments that quietly assume the very thing they should support). Then you sit the midterm, which checks that you can run each test yourself.

  • Already covered: Weeks 1 to 7, from finding an argument to the fallacies of relevance.
  • This week: one test or distinction per topic, the fallacies of presumption, and the midterm.
  • How they connect: each new fallacy is exposed with Week 2's supplied premise.
  • Where we're going next: Week 9, Inductive Generalization and Analogy.

Focus

Which test does each kind of argument call for, and what does an argument quietly assume?

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

  • [ ] name the one test or distinction each of Weeks 1 to 7 asks for
  • [ ] tell valid from sound, and a converse from a contrapositive
  • [ ] spot a false dilemma, begging the question, and a loaded question
  • [ ] write a hidden assumption as a supplied premise and ask what supports it

To-do

Plan your week

  1. Read Chapter 8 (about 35 minutes), then the lecture and slides.
  2. Do the practice set (about 20 minutes) and the discussion (about 45 minutes).
  3. Review with your notes, then take the midterm.

This week's checkpoint: write the hidden premise of "either we raise student parking fees or the library closes on weekends" and say what supports it.

You've got this

You have done this work already. Take it in order, and ask your instructor early if a step snags.

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