Philosophy 4 Professor Justin

PREMISE CONCLUSION WORKSHEET

Procedure: Identify the premises and conclusion in the following passages, each of which contains just one argument.

1. There is no reason to feel sorry for Mary. She is healthy and she has a good job.

2. I am a better driver than you because I have never had an accident and you have had two.

3. We can infer from the fact that she frequently wears blue that blue is one of her favorite colors.

4. Most dogs like milk-bones. That my dogs like milk-bones is indicated by the fact that they eat as many as I give them.

5. Inasmuch as some people are outstanding test-takers, other people are imaginative writers and still other people are successful in business without a college degree, it follows that intelligence comes in many forms.

6. The year 1959 is perhaps the most important one in the history of biology to date. In that year Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution by natural selection which has deeply affected not only biology, but other branches of human thought as well.

7. My husband must have a cold because he was sneezing and coughing all night.

8. Fashionable women frequently wear animal skins on their backs, feet and hands which proves that they are insensitive.

9. The New York steak, the Maine lobsters and the beef stroganoff at that restaurant are all exceptionally good. Thus, it seems likely that all the entrees at that restaurant are good.

10. Since the graduates of Harvard, Princeton, and other Ivy League schools generally

score higher on the Graduate Record Examination than students from North State, it follows the Ivy League schools do more toward educating their students than North State does.

Philosophy 4 Professor Justin

PREMISE CONCLUSION WORKSHEET

Conventions Used for Diagramming Single Arguments

1. Number constituent propositions in order of their occurrence in the passage.

2. Use an arrow as the conclusion indicator.

3. Place the number of the conclusion below the arrow and the number(s) of the premises above the arrow.

Distinct Diagram Cases

1. Single premise, conclusion

Diamonds are very rare, so their discovery costs are large.

2. More than one premise, conclusion

a. Each premise independently supports the conclusion

Marijuana leads to use of hard drugs. It is potentially dangerous. It should not be legalized.

b. Premises provide support only in combination.

With-holding information is wrong because lying is wrong and with-holding

information is like lying.

c. Some premises provide independent support; some provide support only in

combination.

Professor who also do consulting work are not shortchanging their students.

Money from consulting contracts often finance graduate students’ education.

Moreover, the contacts often provide for research assistants and these positions can help graduate students gain experience.

Philosophy 4 Professor Justin

DISTINGUISHING PREMISSES AND CONCLUSION

Procedure In each of the following arguments, identify the premise(s) and conclusion by bracketing the premise(e) and writing “p” next to the opening bracket of the premise(s) and by bracketing the conclusion. In arguments where there is more than one premise, bracket and identify each premise separately. Later you will diagram each argument.

1. You will not easily find a successor to me. Therefore, I advise you to spare me.

2. A nod from a patient in a hospital to a yes or no question is not permissible as court evidence since there would be all kinds of issues like “What medication was he/she on?”

3. A mother cannot be denied custody of her child on the grounds that she works outside the home. Such a reason implies that a woman who leaves her “proper sphere” to participate fully in modern life cannot be an adequate mother.

4. The economy is not generating enough well-paying jobs to support a family. This can be inferred from the fact that 48% of the jobs generated between 1978 and 1984 paid near poverty level wages.

5. If you kill such a one as I am, you will injure yourselves more than you will injure me, for me, for the evil of unjustly taking away the life of another is greater than any injury which might be done to that other.

6. Twenty years after the adoption of federal auto-safety legislation, there is little doubt that cars have become significantly safer. In support of this view it is the fact that about 10,000 fewer people are killed in traffic accidents.

7. Intel forfeited its copyright on the 8086 and 8088 chips because it failed to insure that a copyrights mark be included on every chip made by several companies it had licensed to make them.

8. He would make a pretty poor opponent for the railroad industry. He had only a few hundred dollars in the bank and he was a quiet, bookish fellow who loathed discord.

9. I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy inasmuch as I know this is

the command of God; and, I believe that no greater good has ever happened in the state of Athens than the improvement of the soul provided by my teachings.

10. The Circuit Court’s injunction is unconstitutional. It makes it a criminal act for a man to go out on strike, and it makes it a prison offense for one man to suggest to another that he strike.

11. Although Max bled extensively before he died, there was no blood on the ground where his body was found. Therefore, he was killed somewhere else and brought here after the murder.

12. Here comes Rover. Whenever Rover appears, Kitti-Cat is not far behind. Therefore, Kitty-Cat will be coming along soon.

13. The problem with the transmitter must not be the transformer. We’ve replaced the transformer twice with new ones and the trouble continues.

14. First, it seems clear that, even if there are occasional small dips in the consumption petroleum, the general consumption trend shows no sign of a real permanent decrease. petroleum reserves are not being discovered as fast as petroleum is currently being consumed. Eventually, the world will have to do without oil.

15. Gary should have custody of the child because he can better provide for the child and his wife would be home to care for the youngster.

16. Inasmuch as there is no correlation between wealth and good parenting, the custody of children cannot be determined solely on the basis of economic stability.

17. Warren Farrell’s portrayal of women as unmotivated fortune seekers is unconvincing. He ignores the fact that an ever-increasing number of married women have important careers and that in most households men are no longer the sole breadwinner.

18. Whites ought not to feel victimized by so-called affirmative action policies, since institutional decisions routinely involve considerations other than merit and considerations of race and/or gender are decisive only in cases where merit is equal.

19. Institutional decisions routinely involve considerations other than merit. College admissions standards yield to the children of major donors and alumni. In matters of employment, considerations such as seniority, tenure, veteran status and personal contacts influence hiring and promotion as much as does objective merit.

20. Though cuts in nuclear weaponry appear inevitable, analysts agree that the financial consequences for munitions companies will be slight. This is because there will be incentives to increase spending on conventional weapons and conventional, non-nuclear weapons have always been more costly than nuclear arms.