Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Argument 1
Major premise: Some snakes are poisonous Minor premise: No mammals are poisonous Conclusion: Therefore, no mammals are snakes Valid or Invalid?
Answer: Invalid. The middle term is not distributed
Argument 2
Major premise:Left Valid or Invalid? handers are more prone to occupational injuries Answer: Valid. Minor premise: Jake is left-handed Conclusion: Therefore, Jake is more prone to occupational injuries.
Argument 3
Major premise: Students who study hard get good grades Minor premise: Loretta gets good grades Conclusion: Therefore, Loretta studies hard Valid or Invalid?
Answer: Invalid. Undistributed middle term, and the fallacy of affirming the consequent
Argument 4
Major premise: Either Valid or invalid? the state must raise taxes or cut social services Answer: Valid. Minor premise: The state will not raise taxes Conclusion: Therefore, the state must cut social services.
Argument 5
Major premise: No dog likes cats Minor premise: all cats like fish Conclusion: Therefore, no dog likes fish
Valid or invalid?
Invalid
Argument 6
Major premise: If deforestation continues, there will be more global warming Minor premise: We can see that there is more global warming Conclusion: Therefore, deforestation must be continuing
Valid or invalid?
Invalid: the middle term global warming isnt distributed, and the syllogism commits the fallacy of affirming the consequent
Argument 7
Major premise: some chimpanzees can be potty-trained. Minor premise: Bonzo is a chimpanzee Conclusion: Therefore, Bonzo can be potty-trained. Valid or invalid?
Invalid: the middle term, chimpanzees, isnt universal or unqualified in the major premise.
Argument 8
Three friends are trying What type of movie(s) to decide what movie to see. Their choices can all three friends are a foreign film, a agree on seeing? violent action adventure, a mystery, a Answer: a mystery or a gory sci fi, or a comedy comedy. Trudy Mona Ozzie
Trudy doesnt want to see a foreign film Mona prefers not to see an action adventure movie Ozzie doesnt like violent or gory movies
foreign action adventure mystery X XX
science fiction
comedy
Argument 9
Assume the following statements are all true: Nero, the Roman emperor, regularly drank from cups made of pewter that contained lead. Anyone who regularly ingests lead will develop lead poisoning. Lead poisoning always leads to insanity.
Which of the following conclusions can be logically deduced from the statements at left?
A. insane people crave lead. B. lead poisoning is the leading cause of insanity. C. The use of pewter was reserved exclusively for Roman emperors. D. Lead poisoning was common among the citizens of the Roman empire. E. Nero must have been insane.