Reconstruction Homework

Reconstruction Homework

Professor McCormick

Critical Thinking

Reconstruct all of the following arguments.

• Your reconstruction should be in standard form, all unnecessary premises should be eliminated, and the arguments should be well-formed if possible.

• All but one of these arguments is well-formed.

• Indicate which one is ill-formed. (Reconstruct it in its ill-formed state.)

• Use the Steps in Argument Analysis on page 165.

• Remember that the wording in phrases that mean the same thing must match between premises and conclusions.

• And a well-formed argument must follow a valid or cogent argument pattern exactly.

• Your assignment should be typed, double spaced, and free of spelling and grammar errors.

Example:

Argument: One of the necessary precursors for life is water. That is, if there is life on a planet, then there must be water on the planet. And if there is water, then there will be traces of it in the atmosphere. Voyager has not been able to detect any traces of water in Mars' atmosphere. So we have concluded that there is no life on Mars.

Reconstruction:

1. If there is life on a planet, then there is water on the planet. [EP]

2. If there is water, then there will be traces of it in the atmosphere. [EP]

3. There are no traces of water in Mars' atmosphere. [IP]

4. There is no water on Mars. [2,3]

__________________________

5. Therefore, there is no life on Mars. [1,4]

Arguments:

1. George Bush says:

If we want our economy to continue to grow, we must pursue even more free trade treaties between the U.S. and other countries. And Americans want our our economy to grow. So the future path is evident.

2. George Bush offers this argument concerning immigration:

Every increase in border patrols between the U.S. and Mexico in the past has helped to lower illegal immigration and reduce the number of illegal immigrants taking American public funds. My immigration proposal includes provisions to increase border patrols. So my proposal will address these two problems.

3. We have a great deal of work ahead of us on a grass roots movement. If America needs school sponsored prayer, then we must amend the Constitution to allow organized school sponsored prayer. And if we want to amend the Constitution, then we must mobilize a grass roots movement. Clearly, America needs school sponsored prayer.

4. I recently read an article about George Will that said he coached Reagan in preparation for the 1984 Presidential debates. The next day, after the debates, Will appeared on David Brinkley and proudly proclaimed that Reagan was the winner of the debate. When challenged about the issue, Will insisted that he had no problem retaining his objectivity. When I took journalism classes, they told me that any news reporter who gets personally involved in the events being reported on the news and then reports on those events has a conflict of interests. Will may be able to retain his objectivity (Reagan did win the election) but clearly he has a conflict of interests in this case.

5. Yesterday, the CIA said in a press release that the CIA was not involved in selling drugs in California to make money for the Nicaraguan Contras. In the past, most of the things that the CIA says in their press releases have been flagrant deceptions. For example, unclassified documents now reveal that they openly lied about the Soviet military buildup that helped prompt the cold war. So they are deceiving us about selling drugs in California and the Contras.

6. If there was a wide spread conspiracy among the corporate news media companies to control what information Americans receive, then we would expect there to be a great deal of conformity and similarity in what news those companies report. A well-qualified research group found that there was shocking conformity and similarity in all the corporate newscasts. So, do you still think I am crazy for thinking there is a conspiracy?

7. Tokyo is doomed. If Godzilla cannot defeat Mothra, then Tokyo will be destroyed. But Ghidra is lurking nearby. And Ghidra will inevitably attack Godzilla and weaken him too much to defeat Mothra. So, you had better pack your bags, Tokyo is about to be destroyed.

8. This gets reported on the evening news:

Sources tell us that Godzilla, Rhodan, and Mecha Godzilla are all currently headed for Tokyo. Each one of them is intent on destroying the city. But the scientists tell us that if we do not want Rhodan to reach Tokyo, then we must destroy his power source on Monster Island. And if we want to drive Godzilla off, then we must radiate his internal fusion reaction. Furthermore, it has been shown that Mecha Godzilla is vulnerable to X rays. If we want him to return to Monster Island without devastating the city, we must subject him to an intense X ray source. It is widely agreed that we must save Tokyo at all costs; we do not want Rhodan to reach Tokyo, we want to drive Godzilla off, and we want Mecha Godzilla to return to Monster Island without devastating the city. So the threefold plan of action is clear.

9. If we allow longer diesel trucks on the highways, then payloads will increase. And payload increases inevitably translate to more severe impact on the highway road surfaces. If the highway road surfaces are severely impacted, then we, the taxpayers, will have to pay more taxes to pay for them. And the taxpayers do not want to pay any more taxes.

10. If you do not pay the bill for your classified ad, then the ad will be cancelled. And if the ad is cancelled, then you will not be able to sell that broken down truck that is sitting in my backyard. And if you don’t sell that broken down truck that is sitting in my backyard, then I am going to set it on fire. When it burns up, the drugs you are hiding under the floorboard will be destroyed. And when they are destroyed, the guy who asked you to hide them there will kill you. So, not paying the bill will have pretty serious consequences.