1. What kinds of beliefs are part of a person's background information? 2. What is the most reasonable attitude toward a claim that conflicts with other claims you have good reason to believe? 3. What degree of probability should we assign to a claim that conflicts with our background information? *4. What is the most reasonable attitude toward a claim that is neither worthy of acceptance nor deserving of outright rejection? 5. What is an expert? 6. What should be our attitude toward a claim that conflicts with expert opinion? 7. What should be our attitude toward a claim when experts disagree about it? 8. What is the fallacy of the appeal to authority? 9. According to the text, in most fields, what are the two minimal prerequisites for being considered an expert? *10. According to the text, beyond the minimal prerequisites, what are two more telling indicators that someone is an expert? 11. Under what three circumstances should we suspect that an expert may be biased? 12. When is it reasonable to accept the evidence provided by personal experience? 13. What are two factors that can give us good reason to doubt the reliability of personal experience? 14. In what ways are our perception and memory constructive?

exercise 7.3

For each of the following situations and the claim associated with it, indicating whether there may be good reasons to doubt the claim and, if so I will specify the reasons.

*1. Standing on a street corner in heavy fog, Eve thinks she sees an old friend walking away from her on the other side of the street. She says to herself, "That's Julio Sanchez."

2.While playing an old rock tune backward, Elton thinks that he hears a sentence on the tape. It's almost inaudible, but he thinks it says, "Hello, Elton, long time no see."

3. Detective Jones views the videotape of the robbery at the 7-Eleven, which occurred last night. He sees the robber look into the camera. "I know that guy," he says. "I put him away last year on a similar charge."