Philosophy 25
Introduction to Critical Thinking
Pasadena City College
Rooney
Extra Credit Guide
All extra credit work must be typed and double-spaced. Extra credit must be turned in hard
copy; I do not accept extra credit via email. The last day to turn in extra credit is the last
regular class session (the meeting before the final exam). You can do as few or as many of
these assignments as you wish, but the maximum amount of extra credit you can earn is 20
points (this does not include perfect quiz scores or extra credit writing lessons).
Important note: all extra credit work is graded—it is not easy points! Twenty points is a
theoretical maximum: in practice, almost all students earn no more than 1-5 points from
extra credit. This is not surprising, since the students who do the most extra credit are
usually students doing badly in the class already, and since they are doing badly, they tend to
do the extra credit assignments badly too. I mention this not to discourage you, but to
remind you that if you are going to turn in extra credit, you must do it well if you expect it to
affect your grade. If you must choose between doing extra credit and studying for the
exams, you should always opt to study: it is a much easier way to improve your grade.

Legal Reasoning Exercises. On the website, there is a PDF (“Legal Reasoning”) with
exercises applying critical thinking to legal problems. If you complete an entire set and
correctly answer at least half its exercises, then you will get 1 point of extra credit. There are
seven such sets (the one which is a writing lesson can only be submitted as an extracredit writing lesson: see next item).

Unassigned Writing Lessons. You may do writing lessons or cartoon writing lessons
that are not assigned (e.g., WL 4, WL 5, CWL E, etc.) to replace low scores on writing
lessons. Any such extra-credit writing lessons will only replace your lowest writing
lesson scores, so this type of extra credit cannot exceed the total number of points
possible for writing lessons overall and does not count against the 20-point cap for
general extra credit. Extra credit writing lessons must follow all the usual directions that
apply to writing lessons (typed and double-spaced, odds or evens only for cartoon
lessons, etc.), as well as any instructions in the textbook. Extra credit writing lessons are
graded normally. If an extra-credit writing lesson score is higher than your lowest
writing lesson score at the end of the semester, then that extra-credit score replaces your
lowest score. You may repeat this process as many times as you like, up to the total
number of unassigned writing lessons in the textbook (though you can only do any WL
once—no “do-overs”). Note that extra credit writing lessons do not change your grade
unless their scores exceed your lowest existing writing lesson grade: so if you have a zero
grade from not turning in a writing lesson, it is a good idea to do one; but if your lowest
score is a 4, then you are probably wasting your time unless you take the time to write a
good argument. Review pp. 375-376 for summary advice on writing good arguments.

Complex Arguments for Analysis. On the website, there is another PDF (“Complex
Arguments”) with twenty-one longer exercises to analyze (pp. 286-306 in the file). By
‘analyze’ I mean say whether the argument is good or bad, explaining why. Look at pp.
247-255 in the textbook to see how to do these exercises. Each correct analysis is worth
½ a point.

Original Examples of Concepts. Find original examples of: a too vague sentence
treated as a claim, the drawing the line fallacy, the subjectivist fallacy, persuasive
definition, begging the question, an appeal to authority, an appeal to common belief,
mistaking the person for the claim, a phony refutation, the mark of irrationality, reducing
to the absurd, a straw man, ridicule, up to six different common argument forms from
chapters 7 and 8 (e.g., excluding possibilities, the direct way, affirming the consequent,
etc.), a proof substitute, an appeal to emotion, a misleading use of numbers, a
generalization (other than a poll), or a cause-effect claim that passes all six criteria in
chapter 15. Only the concepts on the preceding list can be submitted for extra credit. They need to
be good examples, by which I mean from real life, originally found (not already identified by
someone else as an example of a fallacy) and must clearly fit the concept. You should
provide a copy of the original source and context. My subjective judgment determines
whether you get the ½ point bounty for each example. Only one example may be
submitted per concept on the list above. Lots of people do this assignment, but their
examples usually get zero points because the examples either don’t fit the concept or
they are plagiarized from examples of fallacies online. HINT: I CAN USE GOOGLE
TOO!

Analyzing Arguments. Find up to three arguments, provide copies of the original
source, and analyze the argument(s) therein. (See pp. 247-255 for tips on how to analyze
longer arguments.) Each well-done analysis can earn 1 point.

Evaluating Plausibility. Use the criteria on p. 70 to evaluate up to two controversies
where the truth is unknown: e.g., celebrity gossip, urban legends, criminal cases,
historical disputes, etc. You should research and document claims and the sources of
the claims. If well-done, each such report is worth 1 or 2 points.

Analyzing Discussions. Find a dialogue (a conversation where two or more persons
try to reason with each other), provide a transcript of the original discussion, and analyze
each exchange as a rational discussion, using the examples in Chapter 6 (CounterArguments) as a guideline. You should, at a minimum, determine which arguments are
good and which are bad. A well-done analysis is worth 1 or 2 points.

Create Your Own Exam. Make up your own forty-question final exam, in the same
format as the existing exams. Questions and examples should be original, and answers
should be included. An original exam with correct answers is worth 1 point.

Making Decisions. At the end of the text, in Chapter 17, there is a last set of exercises.
Write brief, good arguments explaining why you would make each decision. The
completed set as a whole is worth 1 point.