School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics

1st Semester 2005

PHIL1110 / PHIL7111 — CRITICAL REASONING

 


Tutorial Problems 4 - For Week 5


 

Find the hidden premisses that will make each of the arguments in the following texts deductively valid. Diagram the resulting interpretation of the argument. Be aware that the arguments may become complex and there can be more than one hidden premiss.

 

1.                  Eating vitamins will keep me healthy. Therefore I should eat vitamins.

 

2.                  I put 20 mls of alcohol into this empty test tube and then added 20 mls of water to it and stirred. Therefore, there is now exactly 40 mls of an alcohol/water mixture in this test tube.

 

3.                  A recent survey of television watching habits found that 40% of the survey population between the ages of 18 and 34 rated television as their primary source of news information. The percentage of the survey population over 34 years of age who rated television as their primary source of news information was 60%. This shows that over 50% of people over the age of 18 get their primary source of news information from television.

 

4.                  Evil makes one think; thinking makes one wise; being wise is good. Therefore: evil is good.