Problem Set 04

Problem Set 04

Instructions

This problem set is due Tuesday, 9/25. Again, I do not mind students working on the problem sets in groups--it is, in fact, encouraged--but your answers must be your own. If you have any question, puzzle, or require clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me (berkich@gmail.com; 3976 office, 944-2756 mobile--texts strongly preferred).

Translations

Here you will build on what you did in Problem Set 03, using both Truth Tables and Analytic Tableaux to demonstrate arguments valid, and apply those skills to natural language arguments where it is unclear, prior to translation, whether or not the argument is invalid. Whether you use Truth Tables or Analytic Tableaux is up to you. However, whether an argument is valid or invalid, you must indicate it so by correctly circling the rows of a Truth Table if that is the method you follow, or by correctly indicating any living or dead branches in Analytic Tableaux, if by that method. Each translation/analysis is worth 10 points.

1. If clearcutting continues in primary forests and the Endangered Species Act is not repealed, then either the Endangered Species Act will be repealed or thousands of animal species will become extinct. Clearcutting continues in primary forests. The Endangered Species Act will not be repealed. Therefore, thousands of animal species will become extinct. (C,E,T)

2. Either animals are mere mechanisms or they feel pain. If either animals feel pain or they have souls, then they have a right not to be subjected to needless pain and humans have a duty not to inflict needless pain on them. It is not the case that animals are mere mechanisms. Therefore, animals have a right not to be subjected to needless pain. (M,P,S,R,D)

3. If we are less than certain the human fetus is a person, then we must give it the benefit of the doubt. If we are certain the human fetus is a person, then we must accord it the right to live. If either we must give the fetus the benefit of the doubt or accord it the right to live, then we are not less than certain the fetus is human and it is not merely a part of the mother’s body. Either we are less than certain the human fetus is a person or we are certain about it. If we are certain the human fetus is a person, then abortion is immoral. Therefore, abortion is immoral. (L,G,C,A,M,I)

4. It is not the case that either the sun’s interior rotates faster than its surface or Einstein’s general theory of relativity is wrong. If the sun’s interior does not rotate faster than its surface and eccentricities in the orbit of Mercury can be explained by solar gravitation, then Einstein’s general theory of relativity is wrong. Therefore, eccentricities in the orbit of Mercury cannot be explained by solar gravitation. (S,E,M)

5. A doctor must disconnect a dying patient from a respirator if and only if the fact that patients are self-determining implies that the doctor must follow the patient’s orders. If a dying patient refuses treatment, then the doctor must disconnect the patient from a respirator and the patient will die peacefully. Patients are self-determining. Therefore, if a dying patient refuses treatment, then the doctor must follow the patient’s orders. (D,S,F,R,P)

Informal Fallacies

Going by the list of fallacies we discussed last time (also discussed, along with other fallacies, in the Informal Fallacies handout), consider each of the following passages. If a passage contains or describes fallacies in one or more of the ways we discussed, briefly explain (no more than a paragraph should suffice) the fallacy or fallacies at issue in each passage. Each question is worth 5 points.

6. …[T]he acceptance of abortion does not end with the killing of unborn human life. It continues on to affect our attitude toward all aspects of human life. This is most obvious in how quickly, following the acceptance of abortion, comes the acceptance of infanticide―the killing of babies who after birth do not come up to someone's standard of life worthy to be lived―and then on to euthanasia of the aged. If human life can be taken before birth, there is no logical reason why human life cannot be taken after birth.

--Francis A. Schaeffer, "It is Your Life that is Involved", Who is For Life? (1984), p. 39.

7. …Quebec environment minister Lise Bacon pledged the PCBs would be moved out and broken down somehow within 18 months. She also said that PCBs couldn't be all that dangerous because her father had washed his hands in PCBs but lived to an old age.

--Merritt Clifton, "PCB Homecoming", Greenpeace, November/December, 1989, p. 21.

8. Among the various celebrity-endorsed items being advertised inside Madison Square Garden on a recent Sunday afternoon were the following: … one candidate for president of the United States—Bill Bradley, endorsed by some two dozen retired basketball legends, four Hollywood actors, one tempestuous former tennis star, and one R&B singer.

… Surely John Sweeney's recommendation of a presidential candidate carries more weight than Dr. J's. After all, does Jim Palmer's low ERA really make him a reliable guide to home mortgages?

Well, yes—at least according to the associative logic that drives this country's multimillion-dollar celebrity-endorsement industry. If Pete Sampras shills for Pizza Hut, then their pizza must be the best. And if a champion athlete is possessed of certain ineffable qualities—grit, say, or sportsmanship—and that athlete happens to speak fondly of a certain Lean Mean Fat-Grilling Machine, then the Lean Mean Fat-Grilling Machine must also be imbued with the fat-grilling equivalent of grit and sportsmanship.

… If we pick our presidents in much the same way that we pick our underwear, then Michael Jordan's preference for Bill Bradley is precisely as relevant as his preference for Hanes.

--Nicholas Confessore, The American Prospect, December 20, 1999, pp. 24-5.

9. The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire; you are ten thousand times so abominable in his eyes as the most hateful and venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment.

--Jonathan Edwards, "The Pit of Hell" (1741)

10. To ignore the possibility that America was discovered by Africans because these explorers are "unknown" is irresponsible and arrogant. If we are unaware of an event, does that mean it never happened?

--Andrew J. Perrin, "To Search for Truth," New York Times, 16 November 1990