1. Specify whether the following are arguments, explanations, or descriptions. For each argument, identify the conclusion. (10 points)

1. Elbert Ickey must have swallowed a spider, because he threw up on the carpet.

2. You can’t get any pudding, if you don’t eat all your jam and bread!

3. The instructor is so grouchy today, because he didn’t his morning coffee.

4. Elbert Ickey stuck his paw in my mouth so that I would wake up and feed him.

5. Since the apartment is getting so full of cat hair, I should go out and buy a vacuum cleaner.

Part II: Implicit Premises: Identify the implicit premises behind the following lines of reasoning.

6. Bob doesn’t jog regularly. He must be lazy.

7. Mary is a very ambitious person, so she must have grown up in a healthy environment.

8. Mel is very intelligent, so she must enjoy philosophy books.

9. Mel is very intelligent. She reads lots of philosophy.

10. Walking alone at night is risky, and therefore should not be done.

11. People with few skills struggle financially in our society. Therefore the government should help them by instituting minimum wage legislation.

12. Their technology indicates an advanced level of civilization and high culture, and therefore that they must be peaceful and friendly. (line from "Mars Attacks")

Identify the fallacies committed in the following passages.

13. Don’t tell me I should pick up the trash! Your cigarette butts litter the park all the time.

14. It must have been your fault. After all, the computer didn’t crash until right after you started working on it.

15. If abortion is inherently wrong, then I shouldn’t abort my plans to support pro-choice policies.

16. Judging from my performance on this exam, I’ll never be a critical thinker.

17. If God didn’t create the universe, then who did?

18. My grade needs to be raised, because if it isn’t, I will not graduate. I need to graduate in order to get a good job and to support my family… you don’t want them to starve, right?

19. Every culture has been observed to have some form of religion. Now some might object by pointing out that Buddhist cultures don't have religion on the grounds that they don't believe in supernatural agents. But their claim is absurd, because that would mean that such cultures don't have any religious system at all."

Diagram the arguments presented in the following two passages. Pay attention to dependent and independent lines of reasoning. Then evaluate these arguments. Be sure to identify any implicit premises and to pick out any weak inferences.

20. The Rebels will beat the Utes this year, and I’ll tell you why. They have more superstars, a better coach, and greater depth on their bench. And besides, the Rebels have beaten the Utes only once in their last eight meetings, so they are due for a win.

21. We need to replace the system of lectures as a teaching method with a more loose and free discussion style of instruction. This has worked wonders in my contemporary ethical problems class and in Dr. Jones’ art appreciation class; so we can assume this method will work well in all disciplines, from languages to the physical sciences. Students and professors need to be on an even standing, and students need to feel comfortable with their professors; so we need to leave the lecture system as a relic of the past.

22. [Requires a certain measure of distilling or paraphrasing]

Asked why she bothers to assist a species that may be nearing extinction, Burge has a two-pronged response.

"The big principle is, they're (already) here. They have a right to be here. Extinction happens anyways."

But that's only her philosophical preamble. Burge sees a practical reason, too, for prolonging the longevity of the desert tortoise: "They're part of the food chain."

As in, the coyote prefers to eat rabbits and rodents. But in tough, dry years when rabbits and rodents are less plentiful, the coyote also can eat the crunchy tortoise. But if tortoises die off because of loss of habitat, then coyotes in future droughts may die off, too. So when rainy times reassert themselves, the rodents will rapidly replenish, while it will take longer for the coyote to re-establish. Which might create a rodent explosion.

"The coyote is very useful to us," Burge says, "because he helps control rabbits and rodents. But if you take the tortoise out of the equation? Who knows what you're lousing up, when you take out a species? (LVRJ, Jan 4, 2004, p. 10J)

1. Argument (Conclusion: Ickey swallowed a spider.)

2. This is a conditional (if…then) statement, not an argument

3. Explanation

4. Explanation (not a great example)

5. Argument (Conclusion: I should get a vacuum.)

6. People who don't jog regularly must be lazy.

7. Ambitious people grew up in healthy environments.

8. Intelligent folk enjoy philosophy books.

9. People who read philosophy are intelligent.

10. One shouldn't do risky things.

11. There are two implicit premises here: The government should help people who struggle financially. And minimum wage legislation will help those folk.

12. Creatures with advanced civilization and high culture are peaceful and friendly.

13. Ad Hominem

14. Post Hoc

15. Equivocation

16. Hasty Generalization

17. False Alternative (perhaps nobody created the universe.)

18. Appeal to Emotion

19. Begging the question