Yes I Can Do It
Homework 2
Logic and Analytical Judgment (OMA1002)
Due on 4/12 (Tue), before the class
1. Say what fallacy (if any) each of the following arguments commits. (You may want to justify your answers in 2-3 sentences.)
(1) Honey, this postcard just arrived, and it says we have won a free airline trip. All we have to do is call the toll-free number to claim it. If we call the number, we can go to Paris in June.
(2) Ellen Quinn has argued that logic is not the most important thing in life. Apparently Ellen advocates irrationality. It has taken two million years for the human race to achieve the position that it has, and
Ellen would throw the whole thing into the garbage. What utter nonsense!
(3) We know that induction will provide dependable results in the future because it has always worked in the past. Whatever has consistently worked in the past will continue to work in the future, and we know that this is true because it has been established by induction.
(4) Every member of the Delta Club is over 70 years old. Therefore, the Delta Club must be over 70 years old. (5) In his History of the American Civil War, Jeffry Noland argues that the war had little to do with slavery. However, as a historian from Alabama, Noland could not possibly present an accurate account.
Therefore, his argument should be discounted.
(6) Surely architect Norris is not responsible for the collapse of the Central Bank Tower. Norris has had nothing but trouble lately. His daughter eloped with a child molester, his son committed suicide, and his alcoholic wife recently left for Las Vegas with his retirement savings.
(7) Motives and desires exert forces on people, causing them to choose one thing over another. But force is a physical quantity, governed by the laws of physics. Therefore, human choices are governed by the laws of physics.
2. Consider the following argument:
Of course abortion is permissible. After all, a woman has a right to do as she pleases with her
own
Logic and Analytical Judgment (OMA1002)
Due on 4/12 (Tue), before the class
1. Say what fallacy (if any) each of the following arguments commits. (You may want to justify your answers in 2-3 sentences.)
(1) Honey, this postcard just arrived, and it says we have won a free airline trip. All we have to do is call the toll-free number to claim it. If we call the number, we can go to Paris in June.
(2) Ellen Quinn has argued that logic is not the most important thing in life. Apparently Ellen advocates irrationality. It has taken two million years for the human race to achieve the position that it has, and
Ellen would throw the whole thing into the garbage. What utter nonsense!
(3) We know that induction will provide dependable results in the future because it has always worked in the past. Whatever has consistently worked in the past will continue to work in the future, and we know that this is true because it has been established by induction.
(4) Every member of the Delta Club is over 70 years old. Therefore, the Delta Club must be over 70 years old. (5) In his History of the American Civil War, Jeffry Noland argues that the war had little to do with slavery. However, as a historian from Alabama, Noland could not possibly present an accurate account.
Therefore, his argument should be discounted.
(6) Surely architect Norris is not responsible for the collapse of the Central Bank Tower. Norris has had nothing but trouble lately. His daughter eloped with a child molester, his son committed suicide, and his alcoholic wife recently left for Las Vegas with his retirement savings.
(7) Motives and desires exert forces on people, causing them to choose one thing over another. But force is a physical quantity, governed by the laws of physics. Therefore, human choices are governed by the laws of physics.
2. Consider the following argument:
Of course abortion is permissible. After all, a woman has a right to do as she pleases with her
own