Research and Answer Different Philosophy Questions (Term Paper Sample)

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Subject: Motivation:
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1 The following categorical propositions are not in standard form. Restate them in standard form, and identify each of your reformulations as an A, E, I or O proposition. (2 marks each. Total marks = 10.)
a) Not all Democrats support massive welfare spending (I)
b) Everyone who arrives by six o’clock in the morning will receive free admission (E).
c) It is not the case that the only things in life that are certain are death and taxes (A).
d) Distinguished-looking people are often tall (O).
e) People are not machines (A).
2 Assuming the Aristotelian Square of Opposition, what can be inferred about the truth or falsehood of the remaining propositions in the following set (a) if we assume the first one (*) to be true, and (b) if we assume the first one (*) to be false? (5 marks)
(*)Some college professors are not entertaining lecturers. (*)
All college professors are entertaining lecturers (*)
No college professors are entertaining lecturers (*).
(*)Some college professors are entertaining lecturers.
3 Provide the converse, obverse, and contrapositive for each of the following propositions. (10 marks)
* Converse: Things beyond belief are some results of plastic surgery
Obverse: Things within belief are non of the results of plastic surgery
Contrapositive: All results of plastic surgery are not beyond belief
* Converse: Your wealth is not likely to increase in places like some Las Vegas Casinos
Obverse: Your wealth is likely to increases in places unlike some Las Vegas casions
Contrapositive: All Las Vegas casinos are unlikely to reduce your wealth
* Converse: Things best left uneaten are some microwave foods
Obverse: The best things to eat are all microwave foods
Contrapositive: Some non-microwave foods are not the best things to eat
4 Assuming the Aristotelian interpretation, provide a Venn Diagram for the following propositions. Ensure you clearly indicate the subject and predicate terms. (2 marks each. 10 marks total.)
* All banana splits are healthy desserts.
* All pigs are fantastic pets.
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c) Some poets are dead people.
* Some Olympic gold medal winners are drug cheats.
e) No dead people are people who tell tales.
5 Translate the following syllogisms into a standard form categorical syllogisms indicating their
mood and figure, and test them for validity by means of a Venn diagram. Be sure to properly label your diagram. Assume the Boolean interpretation. Note – (c) is an enthymeme. Complete it as a valid categorical syllogism (5 marks each, 20 marks total).
a) Some students are not female, but some males are not students; thus, some males are not females.
b) Since no gillygongs are visible, we can conclude that no dogs are gillygongs for all dogs are visible.
c) Sam’s Steak House must have pretty low prices. Uncle George took Aunt Tillie there for dinner last night.
d) Some syllogisms are arguments whose validity or invalidity is not readily apparent. All syllogisms are arguments whose validity or invalidity needs to be established. Therefore, some arguments whose validity or invalidity needs to be established are not arguments whose validity or invalidity is not readily apparent.
Answer
Some students are not female-E
But some males are not students-I
Thus; some males are not females-O
The mood is EIO-2
The figure; the major term is females, the middle term is students and the minor term is males. The major term is the conclusions predicate term while the middle term is the term that appears twice and the minor term is the conclusions’ subject term.
Figure 1

Figure 2

M P

P M

S M

S M

S-P

S-P

Combining the figure and mood together, the argument form for every standard can be given and for this case it is EIO-2 as is confirmed in the Venn diagram below;
Since no gillygongs are visible-E
We can conclude that no dogs are gillygongs-O
For all dogs are visible -I
The mood of the statement is determined by the type of categorical statements contained within it;
The mood of the statement is EOI-4
Figure 1

Figure 2

P-M

M-P

S -M

S –M

S-P

S-P

The argument that the mood of the statement is EOI-4 is confirmed in the below Venn diagram;
Sam’s steak house must have pretty low prices.-E
Uncle George took Auntie Tillie there for dinner last night-O
The major premise is that Sam’s steak house must have pretty low prices and the minor term is that Uncle George took Auntie Tillie there for dinner last night which gives it the combined value O. The mood of the statement therefore is EO-1
The figure of the standard syllogism is determined by where the positions where the middle term appears twice. In this case, there is no middle term so it is mainly a minor term. The form of the statement s therefore S-S
S-S

S-S

S-P

S-P

S-S

S-S

This can be confirmed by the Venn diagram below;
Some syllogisms are arguments whose validity or invalidity is not readily apparent.
All syllogisms are arguments whose validity or invalidity needs to be established.
Therefore, some arguments whose validity or invalidity needs to be established are not arguments whose validity or invalidity is not readily apparent.
The mood of the statement is that
All syllogisms are arguments whose validity or invalidity needs to be established. –E (major statement)
Some syllogisms are arguments whose validity or invalidity is not readily apparent. –I (minor statement)
Therefore, some arguments whose validity or invalidity needs to be established are not arguments whose validity or invalidity is not readily apparent. –O (conclusion)
This makes the mood of the statement E-I-O -3
The middle terms for this statement is ‘established’ which is at 4 based on the figure and this would give it a figure of S-P
The Venn diagram below confirms this figure;
6 The following categorical syllogisms are expressed solely by their mood and figure. Use the rules of validity provided in the reference material for this exam to discern the validity of the syllogisms. If the syllogism is valid indicate that. If the syllogism is invalid, indicate all the rules that it violates. (2 marks each. 10 marks total.)
* AAA-3
Invalid: AAA-3 has both premises being true but has a false conclusion, which means that it is invalid; so the AAA-3 syllogism form is invalid.
* EAE-3
Valid: EAE-3 is a statement with an E statement for the major premise, an A statement for the minor premise and an E statement for the conclusion; the conclusion is labeled S so no S is P making it valid.
* OAO-4
Invalid: OAO-4; it is invalid since it says that P is not M, all S is not M and that some S is not P that makes it invalid
* EIO-1
Valid: EIO-1; it is valid since there is no M that is P, some S are M and therefore, some S are not P which makes it valid.
* OAO-2
Invalid: OAO-2, this means that some P is not M; all S is M and some S is not P which makes it invalid
7 Sorites. Rephrase this Sorites as a chain of categorical syllogisms. Indicate the mood and figure of each syllogism (5 marks)
1. All scavengers are flesh eaters.
2. No vegetarians are flesh eaters.
3. All hoofed mammals are vegetarians.
Therefore, hoofed mammals are scavengers.
All Scavengers are not hoofed mammals. - No S are P and all non-S are P.
7.

Syllogism

Mood

figure

All scavengers are flesh eaters

AEO-2

AEO-2

S-S

No vegetarians are flesh eaters

AIO-4

AIO-4

S-P

All hoofed animals are vegetarians




Therefore all hoofed animals are vegetarians




Part B
Questions # 1 - #8 are worth 5 marks each. Ensure you provide explanation where requested. (40 marks total.)
1 Provide an example of an ordinary language argument in the argument form modus ponens. Provide an example of an ordinary language argument in the related formal fallacy of denying the antecedent. Why is this fallacy so persuasive?
An example of a modus ponens;
If it is snowing, I will see you at the mall.
It is snowing.
Therefore, I will see you at the mall
Example of a related formal fallacy that denies an antecedent;
If it chirps, it is a bird
It doesn’t chirp.
Therefore, it is not a bird.
Denying the antecedent is a fallacy in the formal logic in which in the standard if/ then premise, what comes after ‘if’ (antecedent) is made untrue, then the conclusion is that its consequent ‘then’ is untrue. It is unclear that a fallacy is committed, but since the argument is formal following the strict form even f the conclusion appears true the argument remains invalid. It the example above, the person arguing has committed the formal fallacy making the argument invalid since the premises truth doesn’t guarantee the conclusions’ truth.
1 Provide a statement in symbolic form that has at least two simple statements as components and is a contradiction. Provide a truth table for your statement that indicates its self-contradictory nature.
The window is blue and the blue light isn’t on
If p is the statement the widow is blue and q the statement the blue light isn’t on, then the statement becomes -p V q and the rules for the statement are summarized in the truth table below;
P

-q

T

F

F

T

3.As we know, for large arguments in our prop...