H.W Chap.5 (Ph)

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knowledge (“studies”) and to show that we have knowledge instead of just a hunch. That point is lost if we drop the assuring terms.

Unfortunately, there is no mechanical method for determining when guarding or assuring terms and phrases can be dropped, or whether certain sentences are unnecessary tangents or repetition. We simply have to look closely at what is being said and think hard about what is needed to support the conclusion. It takes great skill, care, and insight to pare an argument down to its essential core without omitting anything that would make it bet- ter. And that is the goal: If you want to understand someone’s argument, you should try to make that argument as good as it can be. You should in- terpret it charitably. Distorting and oversimplifying other people’s argu- ments might be fun at times and can win points in debates, but it cannot help us understand or learn from other people’s arguments.

In the quotation above, is it fair to drop “I think” from the start of Edwards’s sentences “I think these are decisions the states should have the power to make” and “I think that’s wrong—that power should not be taken away from the states“? Why or why not? Is this phrase “I think” used for guarding or assuring or some other purpose in this context? Explain why Edwards adds these words.

Discussion Question

Put the following arguments into standard form and omit anything that does not affect the validity of the argument or the truth of its premises.

1. Philadelphia is rich in history, but it is not now the capital of the United States, so the United States Congress must meet somewhere else.

2. Not everybody whom you invited is going to come to your party. Some of them won’t come. So this room should be big enough.

3. I know that my wife is at home, since I just called her there and spoke to her. We talked about our dinner plans.

4. I’m not sure, but Joseph is probably Jewish. Hence, he is a rabbi if he is a member of the clergy.

5. Some students could not concentrate on the lecture, because they did not eat lunch before class, although I did.

6. The most surprising news of all is that Johnson dropped out of the race because he thought his opponent was better qualified than he was for the office.

7. The Democrat is likely to win, since experts agree that more women sup- port him.

8. It seems to me that married people are happier, so marriage must be a good thing, or at least I think so.

Exercise I

Note: Remember that you may need to revise claims when putting the argument into Standard Form – in fact, this exercise is specifically targeting this!

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Arrang ing Subarguments

premises) provide separate reasons for a conclusion, draw separate arrows from each reason to the conclusion. When a conclusion of one argument is a premise in another, put it in the middle of a chain. The whole diagram together will then show how the parts of the argument fit together.

Put the following arguments into standard form. Break up the premises and form chains of arguments wherever this can be done without distorting the argument. Then diagram the argument.

1. Either Jack is a fool or Mary is a crook, because she ended up with all of his money.

2. Our team can’t win this Saturday, both because they are not going to play, and because they are no good, so they wouldn’t win even if they did play.

3. Mercury is known to be the only metal that is liquid at room temperature, so a pound of mercury would be liquid in this room, which is at room temperature, and it would also conduct electricity, since all metals do. Therefore, some liquids do conduct electricity.

4. Since he won the lottery, he’s rich and lucky, so he’ll probably do well in the stock market, too, unless his luck runs out.

5. Joe is not a freshman, since he lives in a fraternity, and freshmen are not allowed to live in fraternities. He also can’t be a senior, since he has not declared a major, and every senior has declared a major. And he can’t be a junior, because I never met him before today, and I would have met him before now if he were a junior. So Joe must be a sophomore.

6. Since many newly emerging nations do not have the capital resources necessary for sustained growth, they will continue to need help from industrial nations to avoid mass starvation.

Exercise II

In “A Piece of ‘God’s Handiwork’” (Exercise II in Chapter 4), Robert Redford argues that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) should not allow Conoco to drill for oil in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The following passage is a crucial part where Redford answers an objection. Arrange its subarguments in standard form so as to reveal the structure of his argument. Then diagram the overall argument.

The BLM says its hands are tied. Why? Because these lands were set aside subject to “valid existing rights,” and Conoco has a lease that gives it the right to drill. Sure Conoco has a lease—more than one, in fact—but those leases were originally

Exercise III

(continued)

These arguments have a more complex structure to them because they have subarguments. Sometimes it can be tricky to sort out what that structure is. There are 2 key tools you have at your disposal:

o Rely on those explicit argument markers to let you know where inferential relationships hold (they won’t always be present, but when they are use them!)

o Where there is ambiguity, make a choice based on charity. Attempt to put the argument in what is the most sensible arrangement.

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The following arguments depend for their validity on suppressed premises of various kinds. For each of them, list enough suppressed premises to make the argument valid. This might require several suppressed premises of various kinds. Then put the arguments into Standard Form and Diagram them.

1. Britney Spears is under age thirty-five. Therefore, she cannot run for president of the United States.

2. Nixon couldn’t have been president in 1950 because he was still in the Senate.

3. There must not be any survivors, since they would have been found by now. 4. Lincoln could not have met Washington, because Washington was dead

before Lincoln was born. 5. That’s not modern poetry; you can understand it. 6. Harold can’t play in the Super Bowl, because he broke his leg.

7. Dan is either stupid or very cunning, so he must be stupid. 8. Susan refuses to work on Sundays, which shows that she is lazy and

inflexible. 9. Jim told me that Mary is a professor, so she can’t be a student, since

professors must already have degrees. 10. This burglar alarm won’t work unless we are lucky or the burglar uses the

front door, so we can’t count on it.

Exercise VI

THE METHOD OF RECONSTRUCTION

We can summarize the discussion so far by listing the steps to be taken in re- constructing an argument. The first two steps were discussed in Chapters 4 and 3, respectively.