UOW College Hong Kong

CGE14411 Critical Thinking

Week 12 (Semester B, 2020-21)
In-class Exercise II

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS VERY CAREFULLY!

Objectives
This exercise assesses the following two course intended learning outcomes:
• (#2) Apply the critical thinking skills to examine arguments in debates and texts;
• (#4) Formulate positions over controversial social issues, and evaluate those positions
through reflective thinking.

General Instructions

• Students have 48 hours to complete the test.

• The deadline for submission is 16th April 2021 (Friday), before 12 p.m.
• Instructors will not entertain enquiries unrelated to submission during the period of the test.
• Both resubmission and late submission will not be accepted.
• Indicate clearly your name, your student number, your lecture section, and your program on
the first page of your answer.

Part 1: Hidden Assumptions (Lecture 7)

• Analyze the following passages, pointing out any hidden assumptions.

• Assessment weight: 5%

Passage:
“Smoking should be banned. Cigarette is like a dangerous drug - the more we consume, the more
we are addicted to it. Moreover, like dangerous drugs, cigarettes make us feel better in the short
run but harm us in the long run. Furthermore, smoking creates second-hand smoke which has
negative health impacts on non-smokers. It is important that people are free to do what they want.
But it is more important that people should not cause harms to themselves or to others. Therefore,
smoking harm us as individuals and harm society. So it should be illegal.”
Part 2: Informal Fallacies (Lecture 9 and 10)

• In each dialogue below, determine whether Philips committed any fallacy. If so, explain
what the main fallacy is. If not, you only need to write down "no fallacy".
• The example below shows how to formulate your answers.
• Assessment weight: 15% (1.5% for each question)

1. Aurora: Do you believe in the existence of God?

Philips: Either God exists or does not exist. If God exists, and you believe, then you can go
to heaven after your death. If God does not exist, and you believe, then you have nothing to
lose. Obviously, the best bet is to believe in the existence of God.
2. Philips: That is an unpopular book.
Aurora: Why?
Philips: It did not sell well at all.
3. Teacher Aurora: Students who cheat on exams should receive zero mark.
Teacher Philips: I can’t agree with you! Why would you insist that students who cheat on
exams should be expelled from school? That’s unfair to those students!
4. Mother Aurora: Why do you think that we should not organize a family trip to Taiwan?
Father Philips: I overheard a property expert’s conversation last week. He said his company
is going to sell all of his properties in Taiwan because there is a potential earthquake in the
next two years. I think he is right and we should not go to Taiwan.
5. Aurora: What’s the color of your favorite sweater?
Philips: My sweater is yellow because the atoms that make up the sweater is yellow.
6. Aurora: Bills holds that smoking is harmful to people’s heath.
Philips: Don’t listen to him! He never smokes.
7. Aurora: How many foreign languages do you think students from ABC university can
speak?
Philips: I met four guys on a train, and they said they were from ABC university and they
could speak four foreign languages frequently. Almost everyone in ABC university must be
able to speak at least four foreign languages.
8. Aurora: The New York Times reported that Donald Trump had paid no income taxes in 10 of
the past 15 years.
Philips: Come on, you know that’s false. the Times is a newspaper controlled by people with
liberal values.
9. Aurora: Why do you think judges should give maximum sentences for all convicted
criminals?
Philips: If they start making exceptions, defenders will start asking for lighter sentences. And
criminals will be getting off with mere warnings. Finally, no one would respect the laws and
the security of the entire society will be in great danger.
10. Aurora: Bill was fired yesterday because he was caught stealing money from the company.
Philips: That’s unfair! Why should he be punished when people who did the same things in
other companies did not get fired.

2
 Example
Question:
Councilor Philips: "We'll have to cut education funding this year."
Councilor Aurora: "Why?"
Councilor Philips: "Well, either we cut the funding for education or we live with a huge
deficit and we can't live with the deficit."
Answer (name the fallacy and explain how Philips’ argument fits the fallacy):
This is a false dilemma.
Philips assumes that there only two choices (1) the government has to cut education or (2) live
with a huge deficit. But this is not true. There can be other choices such as increasing tax or
cutting other unnecessary government expenses. There are actually other choices.
Marking scheme:
1. Correct naming of the fallacy: 0.75% (this part must be correct in order to earn full marks)
2. Explanation: 0.75%

END