Phil 04 - Spring 05 Second Homework



Phil 04 - Spring 05 Second Homework

Anderson

Problems 1-7, answer T or F.

1. Truth is subjective; what is true for you may not be true for me.

2. Words like "for", "since", and "because" are conclusion indicator words.

3. Sometimes in an ordinary text an entire argument is contained in a single declarative sentence.

4. Saying of someone's remarks that they are reasonable is the same as saying they are true.

5. The set of statements {Jones is 45 years old. Seven is a prime number. Copper is a good electrical conductor.} is a logically consistent set.

6. The set of statements {Angela is younger than Chris. Diana is older than Brenda. Brenda is younger than Chris. Diana is older than Chris.} is a logically consistent set.

7. An argument can constitute a perfectly good piece of reasoning even though the premises are known to be false.

Problems 8-11, write out the conclusion in one clear sentence. Reminder: Be sure to leave any of the premises out of the conclusion.

8. It may be true that people, not guns, kill people. But people with guns kill more people than people without guns. As long as the number of lethal weapons in the hands of the American people continues to grow, so will the murder rate.

9. Pornography often depicts women as servants or slaves or as otherwise inferior to men. In light of that, it seems reasonable to expect to find more women than men who are upset by pornography.

10. If you're going to buy a computer, you might as well also sign up for some lessons on how to use the thing. After all, no computer ever did any work for its owner until its owner found out how to make it work.

11. Intravenous drug use with non-sterile needles has become one of the leading causes of the spread of AIDS. Many states passed legislation allowing officials to distribute clean needles in an effort to combat this method of infection. But in eleven states, including some of the most populous, possession of hypodermic syringes without a prescription is illegal. The laws in these foot-dragging states have to be changed if we ever hope to bring this awful epidemic to an end.

12. An explanation that provides one possible set of reasons why something happened or is happening should be of no value to us. We want to know the correct explanation, not a mere possibility. T or F.

13. Some political analysts said the November presidential election was decided on the basis of moral values. They were giving a (partial) agency explanation. T or F.

14. Text, p. 75, problem 14. (a) Write out in one clear sentence the explanandum. (b) Likewise, write out the explanans. (There may be more than one sentence in the explanans.)

15. Text, p. 75, problem 17. Same as for problem #14.

16. Statements are always either true or false.

There is nothing objective (nothing in reality) that would make a value statement true or false.

Therefore value statements aren't really statements.

Why does the author say this argument begs the question or, in other words, assumes what needs to be proven?

17. Text, p. 91, problem #8. (a) Write out the conclusion in one clear sentence. (b) Identify any value statements, if there are any, among the supporting statements. Write them out in clear sentences.

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