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12.2
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Check
each of the following arguments to be sure that it contains no hidden
premises and, if it is a complex argument, that all parts are expressed.
Revise each, as necessary, to make the expression complete. Then evaluate the
argument and decide whether it is sound. Explain your judgment.
a.
Having great wealth is a worthy goal because it is
difficult to attain and many famous people have pursued it.
- Low grades on a college
transcript are a handicap in the job market, so teachers who grade
harshly are doing students a disservice.
- The Bible can’t be relevant to
today’s problems; it was written many centuries ago and is filled with
archaic phrasing.
- It is dishonest to pretend to
have knowledge one does not have, so plagiarism is more virtue than
vice.
- The credit card habit promotes
careless spending, particularly among young people. Therefore, credit
card companies should not be permitted to issue credit cards to anyone
under age 21.
- No one who ever attended this
college achieved distinction after graduation. Marvin attends this
college. Therefore, Marvin will not achieve distinction after
graduation.
- Drug dealing should not be a
crime because it does not directly harm others or force them to harm
themselves.
- A mature person is
self-directing, so parents who make all their children’s decisions for
them are doing their offspring a disservice.
- There’s no point in attending
Professor Drone’s class; all he does is lecture in a boring monotone.
- Power must be evil because it
can corrupt people.
- If the theory of evolution is
true, as scientific evidence overwhelmingly suggests, a human being is
nothing more than an ape.
- Rock musicians are contributing
to the decline of language by singing in a slurred, mumbling manner.
- If emphasis on error paralyzes
effort, this college is paying my English professor to make it
impossible for me to learn English.
- Nuclear power is a threat to
world peace. Nuclear energy stations generate nuclear power. So nuclear
energy stations are a threat to world peace.
- Lew Fairman is the best
candidate for governor because he is in favor of the death penalty.
- All religious authorities are
concerned about the dangers of nuclear war. All politicians are
concerned about the dangers of nuclear war. Therefore, all politicians
are religious authorities.
- The government should undertake
a comprehensive censorship program because censorship eliminates
undesirable books and films from the market.
- If the Social Security system
is further weakened, the elderly will have to fear poverty. Therefore,
if the Social Security system is not further weakened, the elderly will
not have to fear poverty.
- Challenging other people’s
opinions is a sign of intolerance, so debating courses have no place on
a college campus.
- It’s ridiculous to think that
there will be fewer deaths if we ban handguns. Handguns don’t kill
people;people kill people.
- The antiabortionists say that
the fetus is human, but they have not proved it. Therefore, they have no
reasonable basis for opposing abortion.
- We must either defeat communism
or be defeated by it. To be defeated by communism is unthinkable.
Therefore, we must defeat communism.
- There is no way that anyone can
ever deserve to live better than her or his neighbors, so capitalism is
an immoral economic system.
- If an expectant mother drinks,
smokes, takes drugs, or fails to get proper rest, she may damage her
unborn child. Therefore, if an expectant mother does these things and
her child is born with a defect or ailment that can be traced to them,
the mother should face criminal charges.
- Custom is a form of folk
wisdom. In some parts of the world, it is customary for “bride buyers”
to buy (or sometimes kidnap) young women from their parents and sell
them to men looking for wives. Even though we might find this practice
distasteful, it would be morally wrong for us to object to others’
practicing it.
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