Exercise 4-3

Create your own arguments for each of the following groups of statements. Use either a premise or a conclusion indicator in each argument you make.

*1. a. Nude bathing should not be allowed.
b. Immorality has to stop somewhere.
c. Decent people have to start standing up for their rights.

2. a. The speaker's defense of Mill is not worth considering.
b. The speaker is a friend of Mill's.
c. The speaker is a notorious drunk.

3. a. A free press is necessary to a free society.
b. Without a free press, the people won't know who to vote for.
c. Communist countries don't have a free press.

4. a. The Greeks had a low opinion of life.
b. They killed each other with reckless abandon.
c. They went to war for ten years over a woman.

5. a. I am not guilty.
b. I never went near the scene of the crime at any time.
c. I was in another city at the time of the crime.

*6. a. Slavery was ordained by God.
b. The Bible is the word of God.
c. There is nothing in the Bible which forbids slavery.

Exercises 4-4

For each of the following arguments, underline the premises and circle the conclusions.

*1. "There should be no law which regulates when and where an individual may smoke. Such a law would allow government to substitute its laws for our freedom to make individual decisions. It didn't work with liquor prohibition, it won't work with smoking prohibitions."
2. "You're eating too fast. You're going to get sick."
3. "You can't prove that I cheated on the test. I must be innocent."
4. "Free speech will be abused. Every liberty is abused."
5. "You should vote 'yes' on proposition 45; it could save your job."
*6. "Men are all insecure babies. My first four husbands were."
7. "Ann Landers is divorced; any advice she gives on marriage is worthless."
8. "Our diet plan is healthy; no one has been able to prove it isn't."
*9. "As Superintendent of Schools, you have a vested interest in the funding bill before this legislative committee. Your arguments for increased funding of the public school system may be justifiably ignored."
10. "Philosophy requires a lot of hard thinking. If you take a philosophy class, you will have to exercise your brain extensively."
11. We never should have listened to Wilberforce. The man's a moron and he lies like a rug.
*12. No one ever did anything he or she did not want to do. If Smith robbed that bank, then he wanted to do it.
13. Either Gordonski is lying or she's telling the truth. She isn't lying. She must be telling the truth.
14. It's a good idea to believe in free will. If there is no free will, then no one is responsible for their actions. If no one is responsible for their actions, then no one can justifiably be held accountable for their actions. If no one is held accountable for their actions, there would be chaos. No one wants chaos.
*15. If fatalism is true, then everything that happens has to happen. If no one can change what must happen, then there is no sense in worrying about what happens, whether it is good or bad. Fatalism should take away our worries.
16. Alcoholic drinks should be avoided at meals. Liquor taken before or during meals encourages overeating.
17. "Milk is the only perfect, complete or standard food combination in Nature. This is evident from the fact that it contains all the elements of nutrition which the new born infant body needs, not only for its vital activities but also for the building of its rapidly multiplying cells and tissues." --Henry Lindlahr, M.D., The Practice of Nature Cure
18. All cows are bovine. Either Max is a cow and bovine or Max is not bovine.
19. If Nobody is on first, then Who is on second. Nobody is on first. Who must be on second.
20. You should give the man a raise. After all, he's worked for you for fifty years and he's never once taken a day off.