Does the following passage contain an argument? “Man tends…
Does the following passage contain an argument? “Man tends to increase at a greater rate than his means of subsistence; consequently he is occasionally subject to a severe struggle for existence.” -Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man
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Standardize the argument contained in the following passage according to Govier’s strategies for standardizing arguments, adding, if necessary, implicit premises and conclusion. To the best of your ability, evaluate the argument using the ARG conditions, justifying your answers fully and following Govier’s guidelines for determining whether the argument is cogent. Suppose aliens came to earth from outer space and put us in cages and started to experiment with us, deliberately contaminating us with painful diseases to find out how soon we would die. We would complain and think they had done us a terrible wrong. Yet we do exactly this to animals less powerful than ourselves, telling ourselves that because these animals are less than human beings, what we do is all right? It’s not. The very same argument applies to both cases.
Read DetailsDoes the following passage contain an argument? I believe th…
Does the following passage contain an argument? I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free people to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid, which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes. President Truman, Address to Congress, 1947
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Standardize the argument contained in the following passage according to Govier’s recommendations, numbering the premises and conclusion(s), adding implicit premises and conclusion if needed. It appears that animals may be able to predict earthquakes. Prior to a major quake in China, hundreds of snakes suddenly appeared from hibernation and froze to death in the snow, fish were seen leaping from rivers and lakes, cows and horses refused to enter barns. Also, prior to a quake in Fremont, California, a flood of callers reported strange behavior from their pets and domestic animals.
Read DetailsDoes the following passage contain an argument? The genetic…
Does the following passage contain an argument? The genetic modification of food is risky business. Genetic engineering can introduce unintended changes into the DNA of the food-producing organism, and these changes can be toxic to the consumer.
Read DetailsDoes the following passage contain an argument? “It is bette…
Does the following passage contain an argument? “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question.” —John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
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Standardize the argument contained in the following passage according to Govier’s recommendations, numbering the premises and conclusion(s), adding implicit premises and conclusion if needed. From a letter to the editor: “In May 1984, members of the Animal Liberation Front stole several hours of videotapes of experiments done to animals at the University of Pennsylvania’s Head Injury Clinical Research Center. According to reliable reports, one of the tapes shows baboons having their brains damaged by a piston device that smashed into their skulls with incredible force. The anesthetic given the baboons was allegedly insufficient to prevent serious pain. Given that this is what animal research is all about, Secretary of Health and Human Services Margaret Heckler acted quite properly in halting federal funding for the project. Federal funding for animal research ought to be halted, it seems to me, in the light of these atrocities.”
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Standardize the argument contained in the following passage according to Govier’s recommendations, numbering the premises and conclusion(s), adding implicit premises and conclusion if needed. Usually the Santa lie, befitting Christmas, is a white one. For starters, the lie is only temporary. You tell kids about Santa now, but you’ll straighten them out later. The deception isn’t forever. And the deception is a mild one. You don’t take a falsehood and call it truth; you take a fiction and call it truth—a smaller distortion. This means the loss of the illusion is gentler. When kids are older they don’t lose Santa entirely, they just think of him in a different way. Finally, the deception is good for kids. Believing in Santa adds magic and excitement to Christmas; the anticipation is keener, the delight sharper. Parental love is fine and even profound, but a gift from the North Pole is far more exotic.
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