First Examination: Introduction to Logic (PHI 105)

Section One: Identify the premises and conclusions in the following passages by bracketing the propositions and placing a P over the premises and a C over the conclusions. Each passage contains one argument.

1. Some car engines are more efficient than other car engines. So some cars get better gas mileage than other cars.
2. In view of the fact that oil is less dense than water, when an oil spill occurs the oil will float on top of the water.
3. Some people are more concerned about their finances, as some people are in more financial difficulty than other people.
4. Because some ecosystems evolved in response to forest fires, it is sometimes necessary to start fires in national parks to maintain the ecological health of the park.
5. The polar ice caps are composed of water, since ice is really only frozen water.
6. Due to the fact that many animals and plants depend upon specific habitats, when habitats are destroyed many plants and animals become endangered.
7. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so to see beauty look in the eye of those who behold you.
8. Since men are from Mars and women are from Venus, this would explain why each sex seems so alien to other.
9. Time flies when you are having fun, so to live a long life be as miserable as possible.
10. Life in the fast lane can really blow your mind, so to maintain your sanity stay in the right hand lane.

 

Section Two: : Identify the premises and conclusions in the following passages by bracketing the propositions and placing a P over the premises and a C over the conclusions. Each passage contains one argument.

 

11. If absolute power corrupt absolutely, then anyone who is given absolute power will be corrupted. Absolute power does corrupt absolutely and President Putin has been given absolute power, it follows that President putin will be corrupted.
12. Life on other planets is now a greater possiblity than was thought even ten years ago, inasmuch as during the past ten years planets orbiting other stars have been discovered and life can not exist on other planets if there are no other planets.
13. The current President will have a difficult time passing the legislation he considers to be important. This may be deduced from the fact that the congress is closely divided between the political parties and from the fact that members of the opposition party want the President to fail.
14. Water is a necessity of life, the reason is that all living things are primarily made up of water and the bio-chemical reaction upon which life depends only take place in an aqueous solution.

 

Section Three: Diagram the following passages by number the propositions and drawing the structure of the argument. Each passage contain one argument,

 

15. All plants are capable of producing their own food from sunlight. No animals are capable of producing their own food from sunlight. It follows that no plants are animals.

 

 

 

 

 

16. Smoking is bad for one’s health. One reason is that smoking increases the likelihood of respiratory infection, another rerason is that smoking increases the likelihood of some cancers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17.since sound hits your eardrum and is then encoded into chemical-electrical impulses, and then your brain interprets these impulses into representations of sounds; one never actually hears the rock band instruments.

 

 

 

 

Section Four: Diagram the following passages by number the propositions and drawing the structure of the argument. Each passage contains two arguments.

 

17. In view of the fact that human beings existed before the bible was written, it follows that man is older than the bible. Which implies that man lived by laws of conduct before the ten commandments ever existed.

 

 

 

 

 

18. The powerful always have laws made in their favor. This may be inferred from the fact that the powerful always make the laws. In addition, since the pwoerful have the means of changing the government it follows that if the government did not respect the interest of the powerful the government would be overthrown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19. Man is not immortal in his body. For if man were immortal then, human beings would not die. However Human beings do die. Therefore everyone should make provisions for their death.

Section Five:

In a small mid western town five men have five different careers. Their names are Adams, Brown,Case, Demented, and Evans. Their careers are Airline Pilot, Baker Comic, Diesel Mechanic, and EMS. Each man has only one job and each job has only one man. Using the information given below identify each man with his job. To receive full credit explain how each box was eliminated.

1. Adams and the Comic both like the Baker’s pies.
2. Brown , Case, and Evans heckled the comic at his last performance.
3. The Airline Pilot is taller than the comic but shorter than the Diesel Mechanic.
4. Demented and the EMS are the same height.
5. Case and the Baker are the same height.
6. Brown is shorter than Adams
7. Evans and the Airline Pilot are the same height.

	1	2	3	4	5
A
B
C
D
E

Section Six: Diagram the following passage.

[All men love that which is familiar to them.][ Most people only have contact eith those in their immediate vicintiy],[ therefore the chief problem that foreign aid agencies have in gaining support is that the potential donors does not identfiy with the victims who are to be helped.] [One solution to this problem would be to have more televison reports form overseas]. [Since if people were to become familiar with the customs of other peoples they would have greater sympathy for them.] [Another solution would be foreign exchange program,] [since living with people form am different culture helps you understand them better]. [Therefore foreign aid agencies should not spend all their money on providing aid they should also use part of their fund on educational campaigns to bring the world closer together.]