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.”

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.

Does the following passage contain an argument? If the President thinks that merely because he has declared a national emergency and that the wall is going to be built, then he doesn’t realize just how determined his political opponents are.

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. Even though millions of people are using dating apps, that’s a very poor way to measure their effect on romance. Consider, for instance, Facebook. Do you know that Americans get their news from Facebook like no other place? Ladies and gentlemen, would any single person in this room argue that Facebook is good for news, for journalism, or truth? Teenagers all over the world are using their smartphones to text each other incessantly. Are smartphones good for conversation? What are the most popular restaurants in the United States today? McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell. Are they good for nutrition? The idea that because people are using dating apps — which have crowded out so many other ways of getting together — my gosh, you go to the bar and you can’t interact if you don’t have a phone — it just doesn’t sell.

Does the following passage contain an argument? Imagine yourself naked, without weapons, and running after a deer. If you were to catch this deer how would you eat it? Humans are not equipped with the canine teeth in order to eat meat without tools. A carnivore’s teeth are long and sharp, and its jaws move up and down. Humans, by contrast, use their molars to crush and grind their food. Have you ever noticed that so many Americans are overweight and unhealthy? That’s because they eat meat.

What is the ideal breathing pattern for PEP therapy?

Does the following passage contain an argument? According to Nature, today’s thoroughbred racehorses do not run any faster than their grandparents did. But human Olympic runners are at least 20 percent faster than their counterparts of fifty years ago. Most likely, racehorses have reached their physical limits but humans have not.

Does the following passage contain an argument?  You should keep a few things in mind before buying a used car. Test drive the car at varying speeds and conditions, examine the oil in the crankcase, ask to see service records, and, if possible, have the engine and power train checked by a mechanic

Does the following passage contain an argument? “No one has a right to use a relatively unreliable procedure in order to decide whether to punish another. Using such a system, he is in no position to know that the other deserves punishment: hence he has no right to punish him.” (Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia)

When interpreting purified protein derivative (PPD) skin tests in patients at a long-term care facility, the nurse practitioner identifies positive results in individuals with: