Midterm reasoning skills

PART 1: CONCEPTS                                                                                                         (20 marks)

Answer any five (5) of the following questions in this section.  Be clear in your answers:

1. What is meant by ‘deductively valid argument’

– if the premises are true then the conclusion must be true [conditional with positive alethic operator]

– necessarily, if the premises are true the conclusion is true [conditional with positive alethic operator]

– not possible the premises are true and the conclusion is false [conjunction with negative alethic operator

– text p.  60

2. The word ‘argument’ is ambiguous. Clearly distinguish two of the meanings of ‘argument’ discussed in this course (e-arguments and s-arguments)

– book p.  2

– a disagreement between people (S-argument); reasons offered in support of a claim (E-argument).  Students need not use the ‘E’ and ‘S’ prefixes

3. What is the difference between linked and convergent arguments?

 linked premises are  premisses that are dependent on each other with respect to their conclusion.

convergent premises  are  premisses that are independent of each other with respect to their conclusion.

4. Give three examples each of linguistic indicators of (i) premises and (ii) conclusions

Premise indicators: ‘because’, ‘since’, ‘due to’, ‘for’, ‘given that’ …, etc.

Conclusion indicator: ‘so’, ‘therefore’, ‘hence’, ‘it follows’, ‘ergo’, …

5. What is the difference between simple and extended arguments?

– an extended argument is one which has at least one proposition (statement) that serves as both a premise and a conclusion.  A simple argument is one that is not extended.  OR A simple argument has (only) one conclusion supported by one or more premises (see text 82)

6. Explain vagueness, and semantic ambiguity, and give an example of each

– a word or linguistic expression is vague if it has no clear or specifiable meaning.(5e, 171)  In the case of nouns, there can be disagreement over whether an item belongs in the class or the compliment class.    Edna is wealthy,            John is tall,      That hill is mountain

– Semantic ambiguity – a use of a sentence is semantically ambiguous if the context does not make it clear which sense of an ambiguous term is being used (5e, 171)

– all laws have a law maker; Happiness is the end of life;

7. What is meant by ‘a strong argument’?

– acceptable premises + a conclusion that follows from them (text p.  57).  Explain further

 

PART 2: FROM TEXT TO  DIAGRAM                                                                            (18 marks)

 

Diagram the following arguments.  The propositions are numbered and enclosed within square brackets.

 

Example:          (1) [Desert mountain peaks make good sites for viewing the stars] because (2) [being high, they are close to the stars], and (3) [being dry, they are relatively free of the obstruction so often caused by the clouds].

 

8. (1) [University graduates tend to occupy a higher place in society than do those who do not graduate from university]. Hence, (2) [if university education were a privilege it would become a means of perpetuating an elitist society].  Therefore, (3) [university education should be a right and not a privilege] since (4) [all means of perpetuating an elitist society should be prohibited] because (5) [all elitist societies are unjust societies]; moreover, (6) [elitist societies are economically inefficient].
9. Since (1) [everyone has a right to free access to the best health care] and (2) [few can afford the high costs of private health care], (3) [it would be wrong to move to a predominantly private system], and hence (4) [the government has an obligation to fund all health care programs].
10. (1) [Any country that allows citizens to have dual citizenship runs the risk of harming itself]. This is because (2) [should a situation of international conflict arise which involved the two nations in which a person holds citizenships, he or she would not be able to remain neutral, but would have to side with one of the two countries].  Hence, (3) [by siding with one of the countries in which they hold citizenship, the other country is harmed].  Therefore, (4) [it is folly for any nation to allow dual citizenship].

PART 3: FROM DIAGRAM TO TEXT                                                                             (12 marks)

Write a paragraph expressing the argument resulting from the given diagram and associated legend.   Your paragraph, by means of linguistic argument indicators, should express the same argument structure as does the diagram.   Example:

1. You should visit Paris
2. Paris has the best art galleries
3. French cooking is wonderfully delicious 

Paragraph: You should visit Paris because it has great art galleries; furthermore, French cooking is wonderfully delicious.

11. In writing this paragraph, put the conclusion first:
12. We should love others rather than hate them.
13. Love harms no one; hate always harms someone
14. We should avoid harming others
15. God advises us to love our neighbours
16. If we harm someone they may harm us in return
17. We don’t want to be harmed ourselves

We should love others rather than hate them BECAUSE love harms no one; [and] hate always harms someone AND we should avoid harming others.  THERE ARE TWO REASONS WHY we should avoid harming others ONE IS THAT God advises us to love our neighbours THE OTHER IS THAT if we harm someone they may harm us in return  AND we don’t want to be harmed ourselves.

 

We should love others rather than hate them SINCE we should avoid harming others AND  love harms no one; [whereas] hate always harms someone.  We should avoid harming others BECAUSE God advises us to love our neighbours. IN ADDITION TO THAT (TO THAT REASON) if we harm someone they may harm us in return  AND we don’t want to be harmed ourselves.

12. In writing this paragraph, put the conclusion last:

 

1. The UN Panel on Climate Change says global warming is real
2. My grandfather has an excellent memory
3. Global warming is real
4. We should reduce our reliance on carbon fuels
5. Grandfather says that the winters in Thunderbay are shorter than

they used to be, and the summers are longer.

The UN Panel on Climate Change says global warming is real.  MOREOVER My grandfather has an excellent memory AND [he] says that the winters in Thunderbay are shorter than they used to be, and the summers are longer.  SO global warming is real.  THEREFORE we should reduce our reliance on carbon fuels

 

PART 4: DEFINITIONS                                                                                                      (10 marks)

 

In the following :

(i) Identify the word or phrase being defined in each of the following, and then  classify the definition as giving either the CONVENTIONAL meaning or the STIPULATIVE MEANING of the word being defined; definitions should be considered as giving the conventional meaning of a term unless the sentence gives good reason to think a stipulative meaning is intended.

(ii) Classify each definition as either extensional (E) or intensional (I).  If the definition is intensional identify the GENUS and DIFFERENTIA.  (None of the intensional definitions below are by single-word synonymy.) 

Example: A bachelor is a never married, adult male. 

Answer:

(1) ‘bachelor’; conventional meaning

(2) Intensional definition: GENUS: adult male; DIFFERENTIA: never married.

 

13. A mass of land completely surrounded by water is an island.

(A) ‘island’; conventional meaning.   (B) intensional definition: GENUS: mass of land; DIFFERENTIA: completely surrounded by water.

14. By full employment we mean a jobless rate of 5% or less.

(A) ‘full employment’; stipulative meaning  (B) intensional definition: GENUS: jobless rates; DIFFERENTIA: less than 5%.

15. Coniferous trees are pines, cedars, spruces and balsams.

(A) ‘coniferous tree’; conventional meaning.  (B) extensional definition

16. Beethoven is an example of a great artist; so are Rembrandt and Bob Dylan.

(A) ‘great artist’; conventional meaning.  (B) extensional definition

17. For the purpose of this Act, pornography means any publication a dominant characteristic of which is the undue exploitation of sex.

(A) ‘pornography’; stipulative meaning.  (B) GENUS: publications; DIFFERENTIA:  dominant characteristic of which is the undue exploitation of sex.