Examine the following arguments. Are they inductive or deductive arguments?
Are they valid and sound? If they are invalid or unsound, why? Is there anything
else wrong with them? (You may want to consult Appendixes B and
1. The philosopher from northern Greece is a well-known
homosexual. Therefore, his claim that the universe is ultimately
made up of atoms should be ignored.
2. Every event in the world is caused by other events. Human
actions and decisions are events in the world. Therefore, every
human action and decision is caused by other events.
3. If God exists, then life has meaning. God does not exist.
Therefore, life has no meaning.
4. All cows are purple. Socrates is purple. Therefore, Socrates is
a cow.
5. William James and John Dewey both called themselves
pragmatists. They are the leading American philosophers.
Therefore, all American philosophers are pragmatists.
6. Believing in God makes people moral—that is, believers tend to
do good and avoid evil.
7. If I try to doubt that I exist, I realize that I must exist if I am
doing the doubting. Therefore, I must exist.
8. We haven’t seen a fox all day. Therefore, there must be no foxes
in the area.
9. If you don’t agree with me, I’m going to hit you.
10. God must exist; the Bible says so.
11. He must be guilty; he has a criminal face.
12. If she were innocent, she would loudly proclaim her innocence.
She is loudly proclaiming her innocence. Therefore, she must be
innocent.
13. “The state is like a man writ large.” (Plato)
14. “I have terrible news for you. Mary is going out with Frank. I called
Mary on Saturday night, and she wasn’t home. Then I tried to call
Frank, and he wasn’t home, either!”C.)
