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Philosophy 203: Scientific Reasoning
Test: The Structure of Arguments
Part III: Diagramming Arguments (50 points).
Directions: Tell whether any of the following passages are
arguments, explanations, conditionals, or imperatives. If there is an argument present,
state whether the passage is deductive or inductive, and diagram the structure of the
argument.
1. (1) Even when an organized attempt to avoid the
intrusion of values is made, it can never be successful. (2) Psychoanalysis has for
years operated with the conceit of a value-free system. (3) Yet time and time again
the imposition of values has been demonstrated.
ANSWER
2. (1) Eternity is simultaneously whole. (2) But
time has a before and an after. (3) Therefore, time and eternity are not the same
thing.
ANSWER
3. (1) Each element, such as hydrogen and iron, has a set
of gaps--wavelengths that it absorbs rather than radiates. (2) So if those wave
lengths are missing from the spectrum, you know that that element is present in the star
you are observing.
ANSWER
4. (1) The graphical method for solving a system of
equations is an approximation, (2) since reading the point of intersection depends
on the accuracy with which the lines are drawn and on the ability to interpret the
coordinates of the point.
ANSWER
5. (1) Lenses function by refracting light at their
surfaces. (2) Consequently, their action depends not only on the shape of the lens
surfaces, (3) because it also depends on the indices of refraction of the lens
material and the surrounding medium.
ANSWER
6. (1) As you may know, iron-rich blood is deep red which
causes the flesh in lips and under fingernails to appear pink. (2) Hence, you are a
person who needs more iron in you diet because (3) your lips and nails are whitish
in color.
ANSWER
7. (1) For the past few summers it has rained red African
mud in Miami. (2) The showers wash down the iron-oxide-rich soil particles that
have been carried on the winds across the Atlantic. (3) It’s pretty dramatic
when you drive to work some morning and all the cars are covered with African mud spots.
ANSWER
8. (1) If substance and form are different, (2)
then we could experience formless and unsorted matter.
ANSWER
9. (1) When we measured sound from the muscles of a
professional ballerina, we found she could not hold as much weight in her hand as Jaffe
could (a co-writer). (2) When she was supporting her weight on her toes, however,
the sound coming from the gastrocnemius was much intenser than it was when Jaffe was
standing on his toes. (3) The dancer’s training in standing on point had
apparently led her to adopt a stance different from the one Jaffe took up. (4) This
suggests that the measurement of muscle sound can reveal which muscles are operating in a
particular physical maneuver.
ANSWER
10. (1) Genetic experiments with such slow-growing and
long-lived organisms as trees have rarely been carried out. (2) Until recently,
evolutionary biologists who wished to monitor genetic differences in populations could
track only such visible traits as color and striping in land snails or colors and spots in
moths and butterflies. (3) Evolutionary studies were therefore restricted to
species that were small and that reproduced rapidly.
ANSWER
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