Question
answer question#1 in at least 75 words
Define inference and assumption, and then explain the relationship between the two. Provide two examples of inferences that you made from assumptions that you have.
answer question #2 in at least 75 words
Describe two intellectual standards and give examples of each from your own life
answer question #3 in at least 200 words
Describe the movement of the person in Plato’s allegory of the cave. Be very specific about the various stages in the movement, and then please explain how the allegory relates to at least two intellectual standards.
Sample paper
Intellectual Standards -Critical thinking
Question 1
Define inference and assumption, and then explain the relationship between the two
Some people are tempted to interchange inferences for assumptions, but this is wrong. These two words that are widely used do not have the same meaning despite having a close relationship. An inference can be described as a conclusion reached by an individual or a group of people after gathering evidence that influences their answer of after reasoning. On the other hand, an assumption is an objected or a thing that is generally accepted to be true within a group of people although there is no evidence to support their answers. Economists have an assumption that consumers are rational in their spending, but this is not always the case (Elder, 2007). Consumers are known to be influenced by the forces of the market in the form of supply and demand in their purchase decisions. Moreover, the same consumers are influenced by the cash they hand when arriving in a purchase decision.
Question 2
Describe two intellectual standards and give examples of each from your own life
Intellectual standards must be applied to thinking about an individual to check on the quality of reasoning concerning a problem, an issue or a situation. Primarily, there are nine intellectual standards that are widely used in the world today to access thinking.
- Clarity – for an individual to arrive at an answer, he must have clearness and lucidity understanding by eliminating any element of ambiguity. Clarity ensures a critical thinker explains his results which make them easy to follow.
- Accuracy – critical thinker should ensure that the basis of his thinking is reliable and correct to avoid a form of errors. Reliable thinking will always give clear and accurate answers.
When finalizing my final project, I had to go out in the field to get first-hand information direct from the respondents to ensure the data used in the project was correct and accurate.
Question 3
Describe the movement of the person in Plato’s allegory of the cave
In Plato’s cave, there are four main parts that include the fire place where there is the fire, the open space where the prisoners are being held, the walls where the shadows are always cast and the outside of the café where there is sunlight. The allegory of the cave can be directly associated and linked to the realm of belief where the world of day corresponds to the realm of knowledge. The least and lowest level of intellect is depicted by the prisoners and where they are held. At this level stage and place, a person only uses the ability to imagine things and this state and level is only unclear and vague (Havelock, 2009). The prisoners start right from the bottom where they imagine and take the shadows to be real as they think that the shadows represent actual people and objects, but they have no proof for this.
An example of intellectual standard depicted in this analogy is the standard of clarity. The prisoners see images of passing people on the wall which are unclear and vague. This is the standard of clarity in question, and a critical thinker cannot use these images to make an answer. Moreover, the cave shows the standard of logical where the stages follow a logic sequence, and they are reasonable and can be used to make a decision.
References
Elder, L. &. (2007). Universal intellectual standards. The critical thinking community (http://www. criticalthinking. org/articles/universalintellectual-standards. cfm).
Havelock, E. A. (2009). Preface to plato (Vol. 1). Harvard University Press.
