Exercise 2.2
Part A: Identifying Arguments
*1. 1. The defendant is insane.
So, 2. The defendant is not guilty
of murder.
2. Not an argument
3. 1. You can protest against malice; you can unmask it
or prevent it by force.
2. Malice always makes men uncomfortable.
So, 3. Malice always contains the seeds of its own destruction. (from 2)
4.
Neither protest nor force is of any avail against folly, and it is never amenable to reason.
So, 5. There is no defense against folly. (from 4)
So, 6. Folly is a more dangerous enemy to the good than malice. (from 1, 3, and 5)
*4. There is room
for disagreement here as to whether the passage is an argument. If it is an argument, the well-crafted form would be along
these lines:
1. The intelligence can only be led by desire.
2. For there to be desire, there must be pleasure and joy
in the work done.
So, 3. Will-power, the kind that, if need be, makes us set our teeth and endure suffering, has practically no
place in study.
5. 1. People fear death more than they fear life imprisonment.
So, 2. The death penalty
is a greater deterrent than life imprisonment.
6. 1. There are many kinds of human experiences.
2. The task of science is to describe the behavior of the material world.
So, 3. Science can deal only with a portion of the kinds of human experiences. (from 2)
So, 4. Science does not
deal with the whole of life. (from 1 and 3)
*7. 1. Affirmative action involves giving a less qualified
person the job.
2. The most qualified person deserves the job.
So, 3. Affirmative action is unjust.
8. Not an argument
9. 1.
If alcoholism is a disease, then it is treated medically.
2. The primary mode of treatment is the 12-step program
of Alcoholics Anonymous.
3. AA's 12-step program is religious in nature.
So, 4. Alcoholism is not treated medically. (from 2 and 3)
So, 5. Alcoholism is not a disease. (from 1 and 4)
*10. Not an argument
11. Not an argument
12. 1. Most
murderers, at the time when they commit the act, are so full of hate or anger that they are completely unconcerned with the
long-term consequences of their actions.
So, 2. The death penalty does not deter murder.
*13. 1. The statement "God
cannot be proved" may mean that God's existence cannot be proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, but it may also mean,
and often does mean, that there is no valid evidence for the existence of God.
2. These two meanings differ.
So, 3. The statement "God cannot
be proved" is fundamentally ambiguous.
(May also be read as a nonargumentative explanation.)
14. 1. Pacifists
are either deeply insightful or greatly mistaken.
2. If pacifists are deeply insightful, then it is immoral
for a policeman to kill a sniper who is firing at schoolchildren.
3. It is not immoral for a policeman to kill a sniper who
is firing at schoolchildren.
So, 4. Pacifists are not deeply insightful.
So, 5. Pacifists are greatly mistaken.
15. Not an argument
*16. 1. Empirical data are
scientific.
2. Only what can in principle be shown false is scientific.
So, 3. Empirical data can in principle be shown false.
17. Not an argument.
18. 1. The probability
of life evolving from nonlife is so low as to be in the category of the miraculous.
2. If evolution is true, then there are "missing links."
3. The fossil record contains no missing links.
So, 4. There are no "missing links." (from 3)
So, 5. The theory of evolution is highly questionable. (from 1, 2, and 4)
*19. Not an argument
20.
1. Faculty salaries differ markedly by discipline.
So, 2. If colleges gave equal pay for equal work, then they would either (a) go broke paying all
faculty high salaries or (b) demoralize the more highly-paid faculty with severe pay cuts.
3. (a) would be disastrous, and so would (b).
So, 4. If the principle
of equal pay for equal work were applied to colleges, it would have disastrous consequences.
So, 5. The principle of equal pay for equal work is untrue.
