NursingTestBanks: Solution Manual for The Power of Logic 5th Edition by Howard Snyder

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CHAPTER 2

Identifying Arguments

The starred items are also contained in the Answer Key at the back of The Power of Logic.

Exercise 2.1

Part A: Arguments and Nonarguments

*1. Nonargument (explanation).

2. Nonargument (conditional statement).

3. Nonargument (report).

*4. Argument. Conclusion: Waging war is always wrong.

5. Nonargument (explanation).

6. Argument. Conclusion: Today the principal threat to America is America’s public education establishment.

*7. Argument. Conclusion: Pluto doesn’t act much like a planet.

8. Nonargument (conditional statement).

9. Nonargument (report).

*10. Nonargument (explanation).

11. Nonargument (explanation).

12. Argument. Conclusion: The population of the world has grown both steadily and rapidly since 1950. (Could also be read as a nonargument illustration.)

*13. Nonargument (report).

14. Argument. Conclusion: James died because he was hanged.

15. Argument. Conclusion: Not all tyrants avoid prosecution.

*16. Nonargument (illustration).

17. Nonargument (conditional).

18. Nonargument (illustration).

*19. Nonargument (conditional).

20. Argument. Conclusion: The U.S. policy of nuclear deterrence was immoral.

21. Nonargument (conditional).

*22. Argument. Conclusion: The good don’t always die young.

23. Nonargument (explanation).

24. Argument. Conclusion: Some metals are liquids at room temperature.

25. Argument. Conclusion: Stealing is wrong simply because society disapproves of it.

Part B: Constructing Arguments

*1. It is morally permissible to experiment on nonhuman animals.

Premises: If it is not morally permissible to experiment on nonhuman animals, then all new medical treatments must be tried out initially on human subjects. But surely not all new medical treatments must be tried out initially on human subjects.

2. It is wrong to eat animals.

Premises: Most people do not eat meat because they need it to live; rather, they eat meat because they like the taste. But this is not a good enough reason to justify killing animals.

3. Marijuana should be legalized.

Premise: The prohibition of marijuana creates a lucrative underground market that is characterized by violence.

*4. Only violent criminals should be imprisoned.

Premises: Sending people to prison tends to make them worse. And there are ways of controlling non-violent criminals without sending them to prison.

5. Handguns should be outlawed.

Premise: The vast majority of people who are either murdered or killed accidentally are shot with handguns.

6. Society has an obligation to provide housing for the homeless.

Premise: In general, we have an obligation to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

*7. Americans are too individualistic.

Premises: Most Americans insist on using their own vehicles as opposed to public transportation. And this pattern of behavior causes severe damage to the environment.

8. The world is overpopulated with humans.

Premises: Environmental problems result when too many people live in a given geographical area. And there are currently serious environmental problems in virtually every country around the globe.

9. It is foolish to live in a modern city.

Premises: In a modern city the pace of life is inhuman, the crime rate is high, the air quality is often poor, and the traffic is dangerous.

*10. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Premise: People often disagree about whether a given person or work of art is beautiful, whereas they seldom disagree about the shape or weight of an object.

11. Large corporations have too much political power.

Premises: Corporations can influence politics quite significantly by contributing large financial gifts to those running for public office. And what’s good for large corporations isn’t necessarily good for the average citizen.

12. Nuclear deterrence is irrational.

Premises: The effects of a nuclear war are well known and simply horrible. It is irrational for nations to threaten each other with nuclear weapons when the obvious alternative of multilateral disarmament is available.

*13. It is wrong to misrepresent one’s income on a tax form.

Premises: Lying is wrong, and misrepresenting one’s income on a tax form is lying.

14. It is not always wrong for a nation to wage war.

Premise: Surely a nation is not morally obligated to surrender to every aggressive nation that goes on the attack.

15. Torture is never morally permissible.

Premise: Torture causes excruciating pain that debases both victim and torturer.

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. American and Britain are alike in their extremes of inequality and in the desire of many politicians to solve economic and social ills by reducing the power of the state.

2. Britain’s current crisis should cause us to reflect that a smaller government can actually increase communal fear and diminish our quality of life.

So, (3) The United States should avoid reducing the power of the state. (from 1 and 2)

*4.

1. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that current food production can sustain world food needs even for the 8 billion people who are projected to inhabit the planet in 2030.

So, 2. All the world’s farms currently produce enough food to make every person on the globe fat.

5. 1. People fear death more than they fear life imprisonment.

So, 2. The death penalty is a greater deterrent than life imprisonment.

6. Not an argument.

*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. Not an argument.

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.

Part B: Identifying Missing Premises

*1. 1. Every woman has the right to do what she wants with her own body.

2. Abortion is a use of one’s own body.

So, 3. Every woman has the right to an abortion.

2. 1. Abortion kills unborn human beings

2. It is wrong to kill unborn human beings.

So, 3. Abortion is wrong.

3. 1. Kurt is a cardiologist.

2. Cardiologists are usually smart.

So, 3. Kurt must be smart.

*4. 1. Harry is the hero of the story.

2. Heroes of stories are rarely killed early in books.

So, 3. Harry will not be killed at the beginning of book 2.

5. 1. God created us.

2. If God created us, then we have an obligation to do what he tells us to do.

So, 3. We have an obligation to do what God tells us to do.

6. 1. I washed the dishes yesterday.

2. If I washed the dishes yesterday, then it is not my turn to wash them (today).

So, 3. It is not my turn to wash the dishes (today).

4. Either it is my turn to wash the dishes (today), or it is your turn.

So, 5. It is your turn to wash the dishes (today).

*7. 1. There have been documented cases of an innocent person being wrongly convicted and executed.

2. If so, then capital punishment is unjust.

So, 3. Capital punishment is unjust.

4. Unjust forms of punishment should be abolished.

So, 5. Capital punishment should be abolished.

Or, more simply:

1. There have been documented cases of an innocent person being wrongly convicted and executed.

2. If so, then capital punishment should be abolished.

So, 3. Capital punishment should be abolished.

8. 1. The evidence regarding the deterrence effect of capital punishment is inconclusive.

2. If the evidence regarding the deterrence effect of capital punishment is inconclusive, then there is a chance that capital punishment saves lives.

So, 3. There is a chance that capital punishment saves lives.

4. If there is a chance that capital punishment saves lives, then we should continue to practice it.

So, 5. We should continue to practice capital punishment.

9. 1. William Shakspere of Stratford-on-Avon was an uneducated man who had an illiterate daughter and owned no books.

2. No uneducated man with illiterate children and no books could have written Hamlet, MacBeth and so forth.

So, 3. William Shakspere of Stratford-on-Avon couldn’t have been the author of Hamlet, Macbeth, etc.

*10. 1. I find this class very boring.

2. Activities that we find boring are frequently too easy for us.

So, 3. This class is too easy for me.

Note that reversing the stated premise and conclusion, here, makes the passage read more like a nonargumentative statement.

11. 1. I cannot think of any reason that would justify God in allowing so many horrible instances of suffering.

2. If I cannot think of any such reasons, then there are none.

So, 3. There is no reason that would justify God in allowing so many horrible instances of suffering.

Note that “I cannot think of any” cannot be here treated as a hedge without trivializing the argument.

12. 1. The only persons who did well in history 307 wrote essays that simply parroted the professor’s opinions.

2. Janice did well in history 307.

So, 3. Janice simply parroted the professor’s opinions in her essays in history 307.

*13. 1. Well-behaved women rarely make history.

2. If well-behaved women rarely make history, then I (a woman) should not behave myself.

So, 3. I should not behave myself.

Part C: More Identifying Arguments

*1. Not an argument

2. 1. Literary study is an education in how to picture and understand human situations.

So, 2. The most essential and fundamental aspect of culture is the study of literature.

3. 1. Naturalism is true.

2. If Naturalism is true, then the only facts we should believe in are those compatible with the results of science.

So, 3. If moral realism requires facts that are incompatible with science, then it is false.

*4. 1. Americans consume about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen – about 17% of our nation’s energy use – for agriculture, aclose second to our vehicular use.

So, 2. Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars.

5. Not an argument

6. 1. God exists.

2. If God exists, then a perfect being exists.

So, 3. A perfect being exists.

4. If God exists, then God created the world.

So, 5. A perfect being created the world (from 1, 2, and 4)

6. If a perfect being created the world, then we live in the best of all possible worlds.

So, 7. We live in the best of all possible worlds. (from 5 and 6)

*7. 1. If each culture should be judged only by its own moral standards, then no culture’s moral standards should be criticized.

2. Some cultures permit slavery, cannibalism, and/or the oppression of women.

So, 3. The moral standards of some cultures should be criticized. (from 2)

So, 4. It is not the case that each culture should be judged only by its own moral standards.

8. 1. Good fiction is written more often than it is read.

So, 2. As long as the appearance of a really fine work of fiction is so rare on the best-seller lists, the nation’s teachers of English have no right to be complacent about their service to literature.

So, 3. The blame for the failure to study literature in a technical way may be shared by teachers and students.

9. Not an argument

*10. Not an argument

11. 1. Either murderers are rational enough to be deterred by the death penalty or they are not.

2. If they are not rational enough to be deterred by the death penalty, then the death penalty is not necessary.

3. If murderers are rational enough to be deterred by the death penalty, then they are rational enough to be deterred by life imprisonment.

4. If murderers are rational enough to be deterred by life imprisonment, then capital punishment is not necessary.

So, 5. The death penalty is not necessary.

6. If the death penalty is not necessary, then it should be abolished.

So, 7. The death penalty should be abolished. (from 5 and 6)

12. There is room here for disagreement about whether the passage is an argument. If it is an argument, the well-crafted form would be along these lines:

1. If a person does not perform good actions (just actions, temperate actions), then he or she will not become good (just, temperate, etc.).

2. Philosophizing about being good will not produce a healthy state of the soul any more than merely listening to a doctor’s advice but not taking it will produce a healthy state of the body.

So, 3. A good (just, temperate, etc.) person becomes good by doing what is good (just, temperate, etc.).

*13. 1. Deductive reasoning cannot have certainty about its premises.

2. Inductive reasoning cannot have certainty about its conclusions.

So, 3. Absolute proof is something which the human being does not and cannot have.

14. 1. If a woman has an unlimited right over what happens in and to her own body, then she has the right to drink heavily during pregnancy.

2. If drinking alcohol heavily during pregnancy causes birth defects, then a woman does not have the right to drink heavily during pregnancy.

3. Drinking alcohol heavily during pregnancy causes birth defects.

So, 4. A woman does not have the right to drink heavily during pregnancy.
(from 2 and 3)

So, 5. A woman does not have an unlimited right over what happens in and to her own body. (from 1 and 4)

15. 1. Children are not moral agents until they act in a nonracist fashion even when discipline (rewards and punishments) is not in view, and act in this way by acting on the principle of love and respect.

So, 2. Rewards and punishments do not by themselves yield the moral life.

*16. 1. The civil disobedient withholds taxes or violates state laws knowing he is legally wrong but believing he is morally right.

2. M. L. King led his followers in violation of state laws he believed were contrary to the federal Constitution.

3. Supreme Court decisions generally upheld King’s many actions.

So, 4. M. L. King should not be considered a true civil disobedient.

17. 1. In 1992 a small group of researchers in England found that by twelve, the students in the most elite group were practicing an average of two hours a day versus about fifteen minutes a day for the students in the lowest group, an 800 percent difference.

So, 2. There is no (natural) talent.

18. 1. Terrorism is the threat or use of violence against noncombatants for political purposes.

2. In ordinary war, the deaths of civilians are side effects of military operations directed against military targets.

3. In terrorist operations, the civilian is the direct and intentional target of attack.

So, 4. George Washington was not a terrorist; but neither were the truck-bombers who attacked the Marine compound in Beirut in 1983; on the other hand, when states use murder and torture to crush political dissent, they engage in terrorism.

*19. Not an argument

20. 1. Segregation gives the segregator a false sense of superiority, and the segregated a false sense of inferiority.

So, 2. Segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality.

So, 3. All segregation statutes are unjust.

4. Segregation ends up relegating persons to the status of things.

So, 5. Segregation is not only politically, economically, and sociologically unsound, but it is morally wrong and sinful. (from 3 and 4)

So, 6. I (Martin Luther King, Jr.) can (rightly) urge men to disobey segregation.

Part D: Argument Forms and Well-Crafted Arguments

*1. 1. H.

So, 2. If M, then L.

3. M.

So, 4. L 2, 3, modus ponens

2. 1. W.

2. If W, then A.

So, 3. A. 1, 2, modus ponens

4. If A, then I.

So, 5. I. 3, 4, modus ponens

3. 1. If D, then T.

2. If R, then P.

3. Either D or R.

So, 4. Either T or P. 1, 2, 3, constructive dilemma

*4. 1. If P, then C.

2. If C, then F.

So, 3. If P, then F. 1, 2, hypothetical syllogism

4. Not F.

So, 5. Not P. 3, 4, modus tollens

5. 1. If M, then E.

2. Not E.

So, 3. Not M. 1, 2, modus tollens

6. 1. O or D.

2. Not O.

So, 3. D. 1, 2, disjunctive syllogism

4. If D, then G.

So, 5. G. 3, 4, modus ponens

*7. 1. Either E or A.

2. Not A.

So, 3. E 1, 2, disjunctive syllogism

8. 1. G or I.

2. If G, then D.

3. If I, then H.

So, 4. D or H. 1, 2, 3, constructive dilemma

5. If E, then not D.

6. E.

So, 7. Not D. 5, 6, modus ponens

So, 8. H. 4, 7, disjunctive syllogism

9. 1. If B, then D.

2. If D, then F.

So, 3. If B, then F. 1, 2, hypothetical syllogism

4. Not F.

So, 5. Not B. 3, 4, modus tollens

6. If not B, then S.

So, 7. S. 5, 6, modus ponens

*10. 1. If S, then C.

2. If C, then A.

So, 3. If S, then A. 1, 2, hypothetical syllogism

4. If A, then U.

So, 5. If S, then U. 3, 4, hypothetical syllogism

6. If U, then W.

So, 7. If S, then W. 5, 6, hypothetical syllogism

Exercise 2.3

Note: Given the vagaries of the natural language, a certain amount of interpretation is required in some of the following exercises.

Part A: Argument Diagrams

*1. ¹[Photography makes representational art obsolete] because ²[no one, not even the best artist, can be more accurate than a camera.]

↓

2. In spite of the fact that ¹[electrons are physical entities,] ²[they cannot be seen.] For ³[electrons are too small to deflect photons (i.e., light particles).] Hence, ⁴[electrons are invisible.]

↓

3. ¹[There is a healthy kind of individualism—the kind that is resistant to group
tyranny. . . .] But ²[capitalist individualism is not concerned about promoting the growth of the person into emotional, intellectual, ethical and cultural fullness;] rather, ³[it fosters the development of individual traits only so far as these are useful for maximizing profits.] Thus, ironically, ⁴[capitalist individualism turns into a group despotism under which personal becoming is sacrificed to the external tyrannies of material gain.]

2 + 3

↓

Note: The logical form of this passage might be interpreted differently, such that (2) and (3) represent distinct arguments for (4).

*4. While ¹[there is much wickedness in the world,] ²[there is also much good.] For ³[if there is evil, then there must be good,] since ⁴[good and evil are relative, like big and small.] And no one will deny that ⁵[evil exists.]

↓

3 + 5

↓

5. Since ¹[major historical events cannot be repeated,] ²[historians aren’t scientists.] After all, ³[the scientific method necessarily involves events (called “experiments”) that can be repeated.]

3 + 1

↓

6. ¹[The scientific method doesn’t necessarily involve experimentation.] For ²[if anything is a science, astronomy is.] But ³[the great cosmic events observed by astronomers cannot be repeated.] And, of course, ⁴[an experiment is by definition a repeatable event.]

4 + 2 + 3

↓

7. Although ¹[people often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder,] there are various reasons for thinking that ²[beauty is objective.] First, ³[there is wide agreement about natural beauty.] After all, ⁴[virtually everyone finds the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, and the Rocky Mountains beautiful.] Second, even though ⁵[art critics frequently disagree with one another], ⁶[they do defend their views with principled reasoning.] Third, ⁷[art critics tend to agree among themselves about which historical works of art are truly great.] And ⁸[this agreement is no mere coincidence] since ⁹[the critics are not, in general, reluctant to disagree with one another.]

4 9

↓ ↓

3 6 7 + 8

8. ¹[In the new order, when voters are concerned about what benefits the elected officer will provide them, promises, hypocrisy, deceit, log-rolling and clout are fast becoming the characteristics of electability.] As Harold Blake Walker noted, ²[of 21 Congressmen linked in one way or another with political wrongdoing or personal scandal prior to the 1976 election, 19 were re-elected.]

↓

*9. Despite the fact that ¹[contraception is regarded as a blessing by most Americans,] ²[using contraceptives is immoral.] For ³[whatever is unnatural is immoral] since ⁴[God created and controls nature.] And ⁵[contraception is unnatural] because ⁶[it interferes with nature.]

4 6

↓ ↓

3 + 5

↓

10. While ¹[some people seem to be under the impression that humans are making moral progress,] I submit that ²[the 20th century is a movement backwards into violence and cruelty.] For in spite of the fact that ³[science and technology have developed rapidly,] ⁴[the greatest mass murders in history have all occurred in this century.] ⁵[Millions died on the battlefields of World Wars I and II.] ⁶[Six million Jews died in Nazi prison camps.] And ⁷[from 1917 until the end of Stalin’s reign, 20 million people died in Soviet work camps.] ⁸[More recently, we have Pol Pot’s slaughter of the Cambodians as well as the atrocities in the former Yugoslavia.]

5 6 7 8

↓

*11. ¹[There is no life after death.] For ²[what’s real is what you can see, hear, or touch.] And ³[you cannot see, hear, or touch life after death.] Furthermore, ⁴[life after death is possible only if humans have souls.] But ⁵[the notion of a soul belongs to a prescientific and outmoded view of the world.] And hence, ⁶[the belief in souls belongs to the realm of superstition.]

↓

2 + 3 4 + 6

Note: (5) and (6) could alternatively be regarded as repetitious.

12. ¹[Politicians are forever attributing crime rates to policies]—²[if the crime rates are decreasing, to their own “wise” policies;] ³[if the crime rates are increasing, to the “failed” policies of their opponents.] But the fact is that ⁴[crime rates are best explained in terms of demographics.] For ⁵[crime is primarily a young man’s game.] ⁶[Whenever there is a relatively large number of young men between the ages of 15 and 30, the crime rates are high.] And ⁷[whenever this part of the population is relatively small, the crime rates are relatively low.]

6 + 7

↓

13. ¹[A liberal arts education is vital to any great nation.] Why? For one thing, ²[a liberal arts education provides the best possible skills in communication.] And ³[without good communication at all levels, a nation cannot move forward.] For another, ⁴[work is not the whole of life.] And it is well known that ⁵[a liberal arts education increases one’s capacity to enjoy life by substantially broadening the range of one’s interests.]

2 + 3 4 + 5

14. ¹[The human sciences have made a major contribution to cynicism about human greatness, especially as they treat the subjects of motivation and freedom.] ²[We are told that human choice is not what it appears to be.] ³[If we accept the sophistications of some views of psychology, we know that what appears to be heroic—for example, a man or woman’s act of courage in saving another’s life—is, in fact, a desperate attempt to win the approval of a long-dead parent who had withheld love in the childhood years.] What, then, has become of the hero? ⁴[He or she is transformed in our minds into a neurotic, and with a slight turn of the mind, admiration is changed to pity and condescension.]

3 OR 3

↓ ↓

2 + 4 2

↓ ↓

1 4

↓

*15. ¹[Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral.] ²[It is impractical] because ³[it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all.] ⁴[The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.] ⁵[It is immoral] because ⁶[it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding;] ⁷[it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert.] ⁸[Violence is immoral] because ⁹[it thrives on hatred rather than love.] ¹⁰[It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible.]

↓

3 6 7 9 10

↓

2 + 5

↓

Note: Since the conclusion is a conjunction, (2) and (5) must be understood to work together to support it.

Part B: More Argument Diagrams

*1. ¹[John and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King were, like them or not, this country’s last true national leaders.] ²[None of John Kennedy’s successors in the White House has enjoyed the consensus he built,] and ³[every one of them ran into trouble, of his own making, while in office.] In the same way, ⁴[none of this country’s national spokespeople since Robert Kennedy and Dr. King has had the attention and respect they enjoyed.]

2 3 4

↓

2. ¹[If . . . our government is to function it must have dissent.] ²[Only totalitarian governments insist upon conformity] and ³[they—as we know—do so at their peril.] ⁴[Without criticism abuses will go unrebuked;] ⁵[without dissent our dynamic system will become static.]

2 + 3 4 5

↓

3. ¹[It is because of the ideal of freedom that we have organized our particular form of democracy,] since ²[the political structure of any society is . . . formed to support the demands which the people make for the attainment of certain values.] ³[Because of . . . the variety and richness of the social and natural resources with which the country has abounded, in order to realize the full potential which has always existed here, we have needed the idea of freedom as a social instrument to be used for our full development.]

2 + 3

↓

*4. For a variety of reasons, ¹[private colleges are in trouble.] First, ²[private colleges have repeatedly increased tuition well beyond the rate of inflation.] And ³[any business that increases prices in such a fashion is likely to run into trouble.] Second, ⁴[many people are beginning to question the value of higher education] since ⁵[a college degree no longer guarantees an attractive salary.] Third, rightly or wrongly, ⁶[the American public believes that colleges have not practiced good financial management,] and hence ⁷[the public thinks that tuition dollars often subsidize inefficiency.]

5 6

↓ ↓

2 + 3 4 7

↓

Note: (5) could well be understood simply to explain (4), rather than to argue for it.

5. Not an argument; merely a report of a series of events and their consequences.

6. ¹[The legalization of drugs is neither unwise nor immoral.] ²[It is not unwise] because, ³[by legalizing drugs, we would eliminate the illegal drug trade.] Hence, ⁴[by legalizing drugs, we would rid our nation of all the violence that goes along with the illegal drug trade.] Furthermore, ⁵[the legalization of drugs is not immoral] since ⁶[it can be combined with a massive program of moral education.]

↓

4 6

↓ ↓

2 + 5

↓

Note: Since the conclusion is a conjunction, (2) and (5) must be understood to work together to support it.

7. ¹[During the 1930s, there were 1667 executions in the United States.] ²[During the 1940s, there were 1284.] ³[During the 1950s, there were 717.] And ⁴[during the rehabilitation-mad 1960s, the numbers plummeted to 191.] ⁵[Then came the Furman v. Georgia decision in 1972, which resulted in a grand total of 3 executions during the 1970s.] While ⁶[the numbers began to creep back up in the 1980s, with a total of 117 executions in that decade,] ⁷[we are forced to conclude that America has not had a serious practice of capital punishment since about 1960.] Therefore, ⁸[it is not true that America’s currently high murder rate proves the ineffectiveness of the death penalty.]

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5

↓

Note: Statement (6) may be reasonably regarded as either a discount or a premise in this case.

8. ¹[It is difficult, and you may be sure that we know it, for us to oppose your power and fortune, unless the terms be equal.] Nevertheless ²[we trust that the gods will give us fortune as good as yours,] because ³[we are standing for what is right against what is wrong;] and ⁴[as for what we lack in power, we trust that it will be made up for by our alliance with the Spartans. . . .] ⁵[Our confidence, therefore, is not so entirely irrational as you think.]

↓

2 4

Note: Statement (1) is a discount.

9. Two distinct lines of reasoning support the thesis that ¹[the physical universe is temporally finite.] First, ²[the galaxies are speeding away from each other and from a central point.] Moreover, ³[there isn’t enough matter in the universe to reverse this process.] And ⁴[if we trace this process back, it appears that the universe began with a “bang” some 15 to 20 billion years ago.] Second, ⁵[if the universe is temporally infinite, it must have gone through an infinite number of cycles (each Big Bang followed by a Big Crunch).] But according to physicists, ⁶[each Big Bang/Big Crunch cycle would cause a decrease in the overall amount of available energy.] Thus, ⁷[if the universe were temporally infinite, there would now be no energy available at all.] But obviously, ⁸[lots of energy is still available.]

5 + 6

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2 + 3 + 4 7 + 8

*10. While ¹[colleges and universities have come under heavy criticism in the last decade,] ²[they will undoubtedly remain a vital force in American social life for generations to come.] For one thing, although ³[both the public and the media seem to have a thirst for stories about people who’ve gotten rich or famous with only a high school degree,] the fact remains that ⁴[a college or university degree is the surest way to increase one’s social and occupational status.] For another, ⁵[college grads as a group indicate higher levels of satisfaction with their lives than do those with lesser educational attainments.] Finally, ⁶[you show me a nation with a weak system of higher education and I’ll show you a nation with little power.] And ⁷[Americans will never willingly accept a position of relative powerlessness among the nations of the world.]

4 5 6 + 7

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11. Not an argument; rather, a statement or report of observations.

*12. Not an argument; rather, a series of unsupported assertions, or exhortations.

13. Although ¹[the great majority of homicides in the United States involve assailants of the same race or ethnic group,] ²[current evidence suggests that socioeconomic status plays a much greater role in explaining racial and ethnic differences in the rate of homicide than any intrinsic tendency toward violence.] For example, ³[Centerwall has shown that when household crowding is taken into account, the rate of domestic homicide among blacks in Atlanta, Georgia, is no higher than that of whites living in similar conditions.] Likewise, ⁴[a recent study of childhood homicide in Ohio found that once cases were stratified by socioeconomic status, there was little difference in race-specific rates of homicide involving children 5 to 14 years of age.]

3 4

*14. ¹[The only proof capable of being given that an object is visible, is that people actually see it.] ²[The only proof that a sound is audible, is that people hear it;] and ³[so of the other sources of our experience.] In like manner, I apprehend, ⁴[the sole evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable, is that people do actually desire it.] Thus, ⁵[no reason can be given why the general happiness is desirable, except that each person . . . desires his own happiness.]

1 2 3

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15. ¹[There is an undoubted psychological easing of standards of truthfulness toward those believed to be liars.] It is simply a fact, for instance, that ²[one behaves differently toward a trusted associate and toward a devious, aggressive salesman.] But ³[this easing of standards merely explains the difference in behavior;] ⁴[it does not by itself justify lies to those one takes to be less than honest.] ⁵[Some of the harm the liar may have done by lying may be repaid by the harm a lie can do to him in return.] ⁶[But the risks to others, to general trust, and to those who lie to liars in retaliation merely accumulate and spread thereby.] ⁷[Only if there are separate, and more compelling, excuses, can lying to liars be justified.]

3 + 4 6

Note: Statements (1), (2), and (5) are discounts. It is also reasonable to regard (3) as supporting (4).

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Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Solution Manual for The Power of Logic 5th Edition by Howard Snyder

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