Assignment #2
Beginning to Develop Some Principles of Inquiry
(largely by reflecting on some
common sources of confusion and error)
Reading for this assignment:
Writing Assignment:
1.
Write out brief answers to the study questions
at the end of Chapter 2 (on pp.30-31) of How to Think About Weird Things.
(There are five of them – I do not mean to include the “discussion questions” or the exercises headed “Evaluate these claims…”)
2.
According to Chapter 3 of How to Think About Weird Things, what are some of the ways that our
personal experience can be misleading as a source of knowledge? (Write a page
or two.)
3.
The title of Brian Fay’s chapter 1 asks, “Do you
have to be one to know one?” The answer
seems to be, “No, you don’t.” Why
not? Your answer should be a page or two
long and should include some discussion of the following:
4. Schick and Vaughn focus their attention on people’s beliefs about various occult and ‘paranormal’ phenomena (“weird things”). But they also say that the principles they are developing in their book should be applicable to thinking about other sorts of things. How might the ideas in Chapter 3 (about the limitations of personal experience as a source of knowledge) apply to people’ beliefs about politics and public affairs? Do you think that your own beliefs about these things (and your decisions about who to vote for) might be at least partly the product of some of the unreliable processes described in Chapter 3? (Write a page or two; be as specific as you can.)