9.6: Chapter Exercises

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Chapter Exercises

Explain the role that emotions played in some of the arguments used by people who supported sheltering-in-place during the Covid-19 pandemic. Then explain the role that emotions played in some of the arguments used by people who opposed sheltering-in-place.
Should a prosecutor be allowed to show the jury grisly photographs of a murder victim? What reasons can you think of for not allowing the pictures to be displayed. What reasons can you think of for allowing it? Would it make a difference whether the pictures were shown during the first part of the trial (before the jury has found the defendant innocent or guilty) of in the sentencing phase (after they have found her guilty and are trying to decide on the appropriate punishment)?
Give an example of someone engaging in self-deception or wishful thinking. What do you think leads them to do this, and how might they avoid it?
Give an example of an appeal to pity. Should it move us? Under what conditions are such appeals legitimate? Under what conditions do they seem inappropriate?
Discuss some ways in which wishful thinking has affected your own thought (or those of others). How might you (or they) have avoided its unhealthy effects. Can you think of cases where wishful thinking might lead to good outcomes?
Analyze each of the following dialogues.

Dialog 1:

Edna: So, how’d the logic class go?

Wilbur: It really sucked.

Edna: What grade did you get?

Wilbur: I flunked. But it wasn’t my fault. The teacher was a complete loser. Anybody who passed that course would have to be a real idiot.

Dialog 2:

Edna: I’m sorry to have to put it like this, but since you just keep pushing, you don’t really leave me any choice. I just don’t want to go out with you. I’m sorry.

Wilbur: Well, I didn’t want to go out with you either. I just asked you out because I felt sorry for you.

Dialog 3:

Edna: Isn’t that your eleventh beer this evening?

Wilbur: What’s it to you? It’s been a lousy semester, what with my pet hamster Emmy Lou dying and that disgusting logic class. So, I deserve to unwind a little. Anyway, I could quit drinking any time I wanted—if I wanted.

Dialog 4:

Logic Teacher: Please put your homework in the “In” folder.

Wilbur: I pulled a real late-nighter and finished all the homework. But after I typed it all up I lost it all.

Logic Teacher: That’s the third time this semester.

Wilbur: I know. It’s like the computer’s out to get me.

Dialog 5:

Edna: How did the job interview go?

Wilbur: It went well. I have a really good feeling about it.

Edna: But didn’t you feel the same way after those other interviews you had, the ones where they never called back? How many was it anyway, eighteen?

Wilbur: Twenty. But I really, really feel good about this one. I just know I’ll get it.

In what sorts of situations or circumstances is it reasonable to let our emotions influence us; in what ones is it not such a good idea? Give some examples of each and defend your choices.
Think of an instance in your own life where you later felt that you may have used a defense mechanism, perhaps to boost your ego. What might have led to the self-deception?
Discuss some ways in which strong feelings of guilt might impair clear thinking.
Write a dialogue that illustrates the bad effects of self-deception on reasoning. The write a second dialogue that illustrates wishful thinking, and a fourth that illustrates denial.