'Philosophy Study Questions\r'

'PHI 101C HW6 10/18/2012 Qiansongzi subgenus Chen 1. How might the bring inive spirit of your perceptions play a determination in what you make eyepatch you’re walking at night through a graveyard said to be visited by spirits of the exsanguine? Constructive perception is in part something that our brains manufacture. Thus what we discern is determined, not just now by what our eyes and ears and new(prenominal) senses detect, muchover also by what we know, what we expect, what we suppose, and what our physiological state is.Just because something seems or feels original doesn’t appearance upon that it is real. 2. What atomic number 18 some of the factors that could influence the the true of your memory of an withalt that happened one-third years ago? Our memories be also constructive and slowly influenced by all sorts of factors: stress, expectation, belief, and the presentation of new information. Added to all this is the selectivity of memory. We selectively remember certain things and cut off others, rophyting up a recall twine. No interrogate the recall of eyewitness is a good deal un honest. 3.Let’s maintain that an unconvincing coincidence occurs in your life, and your takeoff booster argues that the odds against the occurrences be so astronomical that the scarcely account statement must be a para regular one. What is wrong with this in-person line of credit? Just because something seems not so realistic, doesn’t mean it arouse that be justifyed by paranormal reasons. It’s an simulation of the appeal to ignorance. Just because you after part’t show that the occult or paranormal score is false doesn’t mean that it is true. Unfortunately, although this reasoning is logically fallacious, it is psychologically compelling. 4.How is it possible for the prophecies of Nostradamus to appear to be highly unblemished and insofar not be? Prophecies of Nostradamus mint be highly accurate when they predict very world-wide and broad things, when they predict a specific thing, it usually fails to be accurate. Also, commonwealth tent to solely notice the things prophecies predict and identification number out to be true, and write out the things turn out to be false. 5. What is the principle that explains how much combining we should put in personal experience as undeviating render? It’s mediocre to accept personal experience as reliable differentiate only if there’s no reason to uncertainness its reliability.Personal experience and in the main bunsnot establish the strong suit of a treatment beyond a reasonable question. 6. What is substantiation bias? How does it affect our sentiment? non only do we exact a proclivity to cut off and misinterpret evidence that conflicts with our proclaim views; we also have tendency to look for and recognize only evidence that confirms them. We tend to look for confirming rather t han Gram-negative evidence, even though the last mentioned can a good deal be far more revealing. 7. What is the handiness wrongdoing? How does it affect our thinking?The accessibility error occurs when people base their judgments on evidence that’s vivid or memorable instead of reliable or trustworthy. 8. How do confirmation bias and the availability error lead to superstitious beliefs? The availability error not only leads us to dismiss the germane(predicate) evidence, it also leads us to ignore relevant hypotheses. For any set of info, it is, in principle, possible to construct any number of different hypotheses to account for the information. In practice, however, it is often difficult to come up with many different hypotheses.As a result, we often end up choosing among only those hypotheses that come to mind, that are available. In the case of extraordinary(predicate) phenomena, the only explanations that come to mind are often wizard(prenominal) or paranorma l ones. some(prenominal) people take the unfitness to come up with a natural or normal explanation for something as make that it is sorcerous or paranormal. â€Å"How else can you explain it? ” they often ask. 9. What is the wrinkle from unnecessary restrictions? How can it be used to undercut supernatural or paranormal claims?unneeded restriction also called unjustified design, because the phenomena observed are more limited or certified than one would expect if the surmisal were true. To be acceptable, a supposition must fit the data: this means not only that the hypothesis must explain tha data, but also that the data explained must be logical with what the hypothesis predicts. If the hypothesis makes predictions that are not borne out by the data, there is reason to doubt the hypothesis. 10. What is the representativeness heuristic? How does it affect our thinking?We sometimes led wide by the representative heuristic, the detect of thumb that like goes with like . And we are generally poor settle of probabilities and randomness, which leads us to erroneously believe that an event could not peradventure be a pure coincidence. 11. Why can’t personal experience only if establish the metier of a treatment? Case studies alone generally cannot establish the effectiveness of a treatment beyond a reasonable doubt. The frankness is that personal experience alone generally cannot establish the effectiveness of a treatment beyond a reasonable doubt, but controlled scientific studies. 2. What is the placebo effect? A peculiar fact somewhat people is that sometimes even if they are given a treatment that’s noneffervescent or bogus, they’ll respond with an onward motion in the way they feel. This solvent , called the placebo effect, is not all in the mind, it can involve both(prenominal) psychological and physiological changes. What simply is behind this effect isn’t clear, but many experts say it depends on suggest ibility, operant teach (previous experience with healing act), expectation, and other factors.\r\n'