Test your basic knowledge |

Public Debating

Subject : soft-skills
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Appeals from the character of the speaker






2. Does the moral really follow from the story? Is the narrative plausible and coherent? Are the characterizations consistent?






3. Metaphors use ____ and ____






4. Faling to bring relevant evidence to bear on an argument






5. Taught by sophists; provides tools to recognize good arguments from bad ones






6. Circular Reasoning






7. If A then B Not A Therefore not B






8. Is a variation of the non sequiter; it is when the irrelevant reason is meant to divert the attention of the audience from the real issue






9. Ill - Blame - Cure - Cost






10. Using information from mercenary scientists is committing what fallacy?






11. Repetition of the same idea - changing either its words - its delivery - or the general treatment it is given.






12. Assuming as a premise some form of the very point that is at issue - the very conclusion we intend to prove. Also called circular reasoning.






13. Draws a conclusion about the PARTS of an ENTITY based on knowledge about the whole entity.






14. Reasoning from case to case






15. Is the source qualified to say what is being said? Is she or he in a position to know this information? Does the testimony represent what the authority really meant to say? Is the source relatively unbiased and recent?






16. Focuses on inadequacies or problems in the status quo - must be significant if a change is to be made. Must Have: 1. Quantitative significance: affects lots of people 2. Qualitative significance: is of bad quality






17. Special Topoi and Loci of the Preferable - what kind of args?






18. The belief that current thinking - attitudes - values - and actions will continue in the absence of good arguments for their change






19. These seats or commonplaces of argument suggest inferences that arguers might make that are based on the habits of thought and value hierarchies that everyone shares






20. 'When a qualified person says something is true - it's true' is a warrant for what arg?






21. The requirement that the opposition responds reasonably to all significant issues presented by the advocate of change.






22. Usually has three parts: 1. (MP) Major Premise - unequivocal statement 2. (mP) Minor Premise - about a specific case 3. (C) Conclusion - follows necessarily from the premises






23. A syllogism suppressing the Major Premise - and only contains a Minor Premise and the Conclusion. People speak in these more often than syllogisms.






24. Understatement






25. Common practice and traditional wisdom fallacies are categories of _____






26. An irrelevant attack on an opponent rather than on the opponent's evidence or arguments; this is literally translated as an argument 'to the person'






27. Based on the setting - which dictates the ____ ____ used to determine who has won the debate - E.g. Academic Policy Debate: stock issues Criminal Court Case: beyond a reasonable doubt Civil Courtroom: preponderance of evidence This Classroom: were yo






28. Demonstrating respect and care for the audience






29. Accepting a token gesture for something more substantive






30. Repetition of the same word or groups of words at the beginning of successive clauses - sentences - or lines.






31. Can the sign be found without the thing for which it stands? Is an alternative explanation of the maning of the sign more credible? Are there countering signs that indicate that his one sign is false?






32. Have both claims - reason - and at least two sides






33. Oral performances that have a set format in which two or more speakers take turns making arguments and counterarguments before an audience - Examples: Court room - candidate debates - academic debates






34. An argument that follows proper logical form






35. Opposite of Hyperbole






36. If A then B If B then C Therefore - if A then C






37. Agree with the values or goals of the opposition - but then argue that the opposition doesn't do a better job of achieving those values goals






38. Religious liberty - limited government - entrepreneurship - military strength - traditional institutions - property rights






39. Is a variation of the tu quoque; it is when you justify a wrong by saying that most other people do it too.






40. Concerns new policy being proposed that will remedy the ill outlined and the inherent factors.






41. _____ rejected rhetoric as flattery - not truth - a 'knack' on par with 'cookery' and 'cosmetics'






42. Use of a word or phrase that could have several meanings






43. Relative advantages and disadvantages of the new policy. Are the adverse effects going to outweigh the benefits?






44. Arguing without evidence that a given event is the first of a series of steps that will inevitably lead to some outcome.






45. Values more over less in terms of quantitative outcomes (the greatest good for the greatest number)






46. Are the terms of the metaphor coherent - or does it tell a story or paint a picure that fails to make sense internally?






47. Drawing an analogical conclusion when the cases compared are not relevantly alike






48. After this - therefore on account of this






49. Arguing that the conclusion of an argument must be untrue because there is a fallacy in the reasoning. (Just because the premises may not be true - does not mean that the conclusion has to be false)






50. Wrote 'On Not Being' and 'In Defense of Helen'