Definitions Assignment reasoning skills

PART 1: The following sentences are syntactically ambiguous.1 Write two sentences for each of the given (stimulus) sentences, each of which unambiguously express one of the meanings possible for the given sentence.

Example: Watch repairs here.
Sentence 1: Here one can watch repairs being made
Sentence 2: Here watches are repaired

Here we are looking for two sentences, well formed grammatically, each of which unambiguously captures one of the distinct meanings in the stimulus sentence. There are different ways of doing it – different sentences you can make — but the following meanings should be distinguished.

1. I saw the thief leaving the house with my binoculars
S1: I saw the thief leaving the house and taking my binoculars with him
S2: Through my binoculars I could see the thief leaving the house
NOT: I saw the thief leaving the house through my binoculars (the thief can’t go through the binoculars)

2. Roadhouse sign: Clean and decent dancing every night except Sunday
S1: There is clean and descent dancing every night of the week but no dancing at all on Sundays.
S2: There is clean and descent dancing Monday to Saturday nights but the dancing on Sunday is not clean and descent.

3* Richly carved Chippendale furniture was produced by colonial craftsmen with curved legs and claw feet.
S1: Colonial craftsmen, who had curved legs and claw feet, produced richly carved Chippendale furniture
S2: Richly carved Chippendale furniture with curved legs and claw feet was produced by colonial craftsmen

4* “I hope that you the enemy may slay.”
S1: I hope you may slay the enemy
S2: I hope the enemy may slay you

5* Flattering men amused her.
S1: Men who flattered (her, anyone) amused her
S2: Men being flattered by (her, others) amused her

PART 2: For the following, give extensional definitions which have exactly four items in the definiens. Enter your answer directly on this page.
Example. ‘Western Canadian city’ means Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon …

6. South American country means

Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Argentina [for example, others are OK]

7. migratory bird means

Robin, Canada Goose, Blue-winged Teal, Eskimo Curlew [for example, others are OK]

8 breakfast cereal means
Corn Flakes, Special K, Cheerios, Wheaties [for example, others are OK]

9 ‘American automobile’ means
Rambler American, Buick Special, Chrysler Van, Chevrolet Biscayne
[for example, others are OK]
10 ‘prime number’ means

3, 5, 7, 11 [for example, others are OK]

PART 3: Give intensional, genus-differentia definitions of the following in the space provided. Write the genus in capital letters and the differentia in lower case letters.

Example: linked premises are PREMISSES that are dependent on each other with respect to their conclusion.

Here good answers have the same meaning as offered below, although not necessarily the same wording.

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

12 ‘patricide’ – the MURDER of a father (by one of his children)

13 terrorism – VIOLENCE for a political purpose

14 migratory birds are BIRDS who relocate their habitat according to seasons (mostly north-south)

15 “quadrilateral” – a closed two-dimensional geometric figure with four straight sides

PART 4: Classifying definitions:

Classify the following intentional definitions under the following two categories, kind of meaning, and kind of (intentional) definition. Consider the meaning to be conventional unless it is clearly stipulative.

CON = conventional meaning vs STI = stipulative meaning
SYN = synonymy vs G/D = genus-differentia

Example: ‘Primary care-giver’ means that parent who bears greater responsibility for rasing a child
STI G/D

16 For the purpose of this award, full- time student shall mean any student enrolled in eight or more semester length courses”
STI G/D

17 ‘Pusilanimous’ means ‘fainthearted’ CON SYN

18 Puppy is a very young dog CON G/D

19 Ethics is the part of philosophy that studies the rights and obligations people have towards each other.
CON G/D

20. In this course, by ‘argument’ we mean those sets of statements in which reasons are offered in support of a claim
STI G/D