Philosophy 110
Homework #1
DUE DATE: March 6
Instructor David Kelsey
This homework covers lectures 1-5
Part 1:
Question: Is the following an argument? If so, what are the premises and what is the conclusion of
the argument.
Movies lately have lost all their originality. Did you see that horror flick that came out last
week? It has a similar plot to Halloween and Friday the 13th. I haven’t seen a new plot or
new twist or turn in a movie since the Matrix.
Question: True or False, both strong arguments and valid arguments will always have true premises.
(Please explain your answer.)
Question: What is the issue discussed in the following passage:
Whatever we believe, we think agreeable to reason, and, on that account, yield our assent to
it. Whatever we disbelieve, we think contrary to reason, and, on that account, dissent from
it. Reason ought then to be allowed to be the principle by which our belief and opinions are
regulated.
Thomas Reid, Essays on the Active Powers of Man
Question: Is the following an argument? If so, what are the premises and what is the conclusion of
the argument.
…If minds are immaterial, then, we cannot see or touch or otherwise perceive any
mind but our own mind, of which we seem to be directly aware. But, then, how do
we know that other bodies are really, as is our body, animated by minds at all?
Perhaps our mind is the only mind in the world, and every other being seemingly like
us is just some sort of automaton?
Question: supply a universal principle that turns the following into a valid deductive argument:
Summer believes abortion is permissible when the mother’s life is at stake so she’s liberal for
sure.
Exercise 5-2: #9
Exercise 5-5: #10
Exercise 5-16: #15
Exercise 6-2: #10
Exercise 6-6: #6
Exercise 7-3: #8
Question: what is the fallacy that occurs in the following passage?
Political candidate #1, Mr. Jones: If I am elected I will pull out every American troop from
Afghanistan by Spring of 2013. I believe that we must focus on our troubles at home before
we can worry about our troubles abroad. What is your stance on the war in Afghanistan Mr.
Smith?
Political candidate #2, Mr. Smith: I too believe that we should focus on our troubles at
home. This is why I am such an advocate of education. I think it’s so important to educate
Americans. We are the most advanced and powerful nation in the world so we ought to be
the most well educated too. So yes Mr. Jones I too believe that we must focus on our
troubles at home.
Part 2:
Formalize the argument seen in the following passage:
Now if the function of man is an activity of soul which follows or implies a rational
principle, and if we say ‘so-and-so’ and ‘a-good-so-and-so’ have a function which is
the same in kind…for the function of the lyre-player is to play the lyre, and that of a
good lyre-player is to do so well…if this is the case, and we state the function of man
to be a certain kind of life, and this to be an activity…of the soul implying a rational
principle, and the function of a good man to be the good and noble performance of
these…if this is the case, human good turns out to be activity of soul in accordance
with virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and
most complete.