Introducing Logic and Critical Thinking
The Skills of Reasoning and the Virtues of Inquiry
Chapter
5. Virtues of Intellectual Dependence
Exercise 5.1
A. Evaluating Trust
For each of the following examples, make a case for why the character or characters do or do not display trust. If a character exhibits a vice that is contrary to trust, identify the vice. Cite relevant material from the text in section 5.1 in defense of your view.
- An ethics professor gives an argument to her students that they should give away massive amounts of their income to help the poor. A student replies, 鈥淏ut you don鈥檛 do that, do you?鈥
- A lawyer says to a friend that the best way to stop corporate greed is to tax corporations way more. The friend responds, 鈥淲hy do you think taxing them more will stop their greed?鈥 The lawyer responds, 鈥淚 made the assertion; I don鈥檛 need to justify it. The burden of proof is on you to disprove it.鈥
- Women who work for a corporation notice that in company meetings the men ignore their suggestions. They decide to ask some men to echo their statements in the next meeting. When the men echo their statements, they find that their suggestions are taken seriously.
- A homeowner is watching an infomercial and sees a man in a lab coat reporting that Shark vacuum cleaners have the greatest suction power of any vacuum. The homeowner believes him, in large part because he鈥檚 wearing a lab coat.
- An Apple employee listens to a Samsung earnings call in which Samsung鈥檚 CEO says that Samsung makes the best phones in the business. The Apple employee is worried and thinks: I thought we made the best phones in the business. The Apple employee asks some colleagues whether Samsung in fact produces the best phones.
- A logic student reads a textbook about intellectual vices. The student thinks that the author of the textbook is wrong and that what the author says is a vice is, in fact, not a vice.
- Someone watching a political debate hears a politician make a bold claim. She visits the opponent鈥檚 website to see what the opponent鈥檚 staff has to say about the claim.
- A tech company executive is about to lay off dozens of employees, on the recommendation of his vice presidents. He notices that slightly more of the employees to be laid off are women, but slightly more of the company鈥檚 employees are men. He thinks that perhaps the percentage of women in each group is unequal due to an implicit gender bias of the vice presidents. He decides to flip the numbers in the opposite direction.
- Chris鈥檚 friend Sally says that he sounds angry. Chris immediately dismisses Sally鈥檚 comment, because he thinks he鈥檚 better at figuring out how he sounds.
- LeBron sees a news article that one of his friends posted on Facebook. It claims that the United States is about to go to war. He thinks about posting it, but first he goes to Snopes and Google to see whether the article is correct.
Exercise 5.2
A. Evaluating Charity
For each of the following examples, make a case for why the character or characters do or do not display interpretive charity. If a character exhibits a vice that is contrary to interpretive charity, identify the vice. Cite relevant material from the text in section 5.2 in defense of your view.
- Cortana says to Renauld that lethal injection is always wrong because, she says, 鈥淜illing an innocent person is okay only when it鈥檚 done in self defense.鈥 Renauld thinks that Cortana also believes that lethal injection is never done in self-defense.
- An employee, Renita, says to a colleague that her boss has some habits that are really annoying and irksome. The colleague reports to human resources that Renita finds her boss to be an annoying and irksome person.
- A mayor of a large city says that the city is currently over budget but it is taking steps to cut expenditures to stay in the black. Someone who is vying for the mayor鈥檚 position makes a public statement: 鈥淥ur city is not only over budget and losing money but the current mayor will also remove funding for some of your favorite programs.鈥
- Roger, a political candidate, says that the arguments given by his opponent, Rosa, are unmotivated and could lead to harmful outcomes if accepted. A newspaper reports that Roger made damning allegations against Rosa鈥攈e claimed that she should not be accepted because she鈥檚 harmful and unmotivated.
- A father says to his teenage daughter, 鈥淣o, you can鈥檛 go out tonight.鈥 The daughter responds, 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 understand me!鈥 The father responds, 鈥淪o you think that if I understood you, I鈥檇 let you go out tonight?鈥
- An atheist argues in a debate that God is not good because God allows so much suffering. After the debate, an audience member asks, 鈥淪o you don鈥檛 think the only all-good being is good? You believe a contradiction then?鈥
- Someone says to their partner, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 mean to blame you for this, but our bathtub has gotten really dirty, and one of us needs to clean it.鈥 The partner responds, 鈥淲hy are you always accusing me of being the dirty one?!鈥
- A professor presents an argument in class for the thesis that we, human persons, are animals. A student responds, disgusted, 鈥淪o you think we can do anything that any other animal does?鈥
- A philosophy professor publishes an article in which she argues that if someone thinks that personhood requires being able to value their lives, infants are not persons and so do not have rights associated with personhood. A blog post represents the professor鈥檚 article as claiming that infants do not have rights, and it cites laws against infanticide as arguments against the professor鈥檚 article.
- As Bea and Callista are walking through a fair together, Callista notes that there aren鈥檛 many food vendors in the area. Bea says, 鈥淏ut you said you were having a good time. If you weren鈥檛, you should have said so!鈥
Exercise 5.3
A. Evaluating Empathy
For each of the following examples, make a case for why the character or characters do or do not display intellectual empathy. If a character exhibits a vice that is contrary to intellectual empathy, identify the vice. Cite relevant material from the text in section 5.3 in defense of your view.
- A student is reading an article by a famous ethicist in which the ethicist argues that when we are considering whom to care for, we should consider not only those near to us but those in areas across the globe. He argues that distance should not influence whether we have obligations to someone. The reader remembers that the same ethicist argues that those with severe mental disabilities do not have a life worth living. She closes the book and decides not to consider what she has read.
- Someone who is a vegetarian for moral reasons encounters a conservative who says that it does not matter whether animals suffer; they鈥檙e not like us. The vegetarian calls the conservative a monster and storms away.
- A pro-life advocate argues that since fetuses are innocent humans, they have the right to life. A pro-choice activist accuses the pro-life advocate of being anti-women.
- The pro-life advocate accuses the pro-choice advocate of caring more about their personal comfort than another鈥檚 life.
- A well-off business executive on his way to lunch sees a street vendor in cut-off jean shorts. The street vendor asks the executive if he would like a cigarette. 鈥淒o you think I鈥檓 like one of you?鈥 he asks.
- A woman leaves her CrossFit class to begin her shift as a waitress. An obese man at her restaurant orders a soda. She suggests he order a water 鈥渂ecause,鈥 she says, 鈥減erhaps you didn鈥檛 know it, but soda is not healthy.鈥
- A daughter asks her mother whether there are any fish with legs besides frogs. Her mother laughs and calls her daughter silly.
- An atheist mocks some Christians for believing 鈥渢he ridiculous claim that God will punish them but chose to create another human to punish instead, as if justice works like that.鈥
- A Christian reads a news report about a pastor who has just purchased a jet 鈥渇or ministry purposes.鈥 The Christian reading the news report stops reading and thinks: that鈥檚 absurd; God could never want anyone to have such extravagant wealth.
- A governing body voted to remove a poverty assistance program. Without inquiring further into why they did so, several citizens commented on Facebook, 鈥淥ur government is founded on Biblical principles but has removed help for the poor. That鈥檚 not what Jesus would have done. He was all about the poor.鈥