PHIL 347 Week 3 Checkpoint Quiz

What four conditions must an argument meet if we are to accept the worthiness and reasonableness of its conclusions? "The four conditions that must be met: 1. To the best of our knowledge and understanding, the reason is true. 2. The logical relationship between the reason and the claim is such that the reason implies, entails, strongly warrants or strongly supports the claim, such that the claim must be true or very probably true if the reason is assumed to be true. 3. The relevance of the reason to the claim is such that the truth of the claim actually depends on the truth of the reason. 4. The flow of the reasoning is such that truth of reason must not depend on the truth of the claim. An argument that satisfies all four conditions is worthy of our acceptance as a proof that its claim is true or very probably true (Facione & Gittens, 2016, p. 142)." 7. In an argument with two or more independent reasons, if one of those reasons turns out to be false, how does a critical thinker apply the test of logical strength to the argument? Should the critical thinker reject such an argument? Explain your answer. Our text states, "before determining that a claim should be rejected, a strong critical thinker would first need to find problems with the soundness of all the arguments being advanced (Facione & Gittens, 2016, p. 144)." The critical thinker should not reject the argument because people are oftentimes more inclined to yield many autonomous rationales to support a claim, regardless if some of those rationales turn out to be false; however, rejecting a person's claim solely because one (or more) of their rationales had invalid contents is a common error in human logic (Facione & Gittens, 2016). 8. Erwin is charged with statutory rape, which is defined as a having sex with a minor, a person under the age of 18. Erwin argues: “You can’t arrest me just because she’s 17 and I’m 21. Yes, we had sex, but it was consensual, plus she will be 18 in two weeks, and we are planning to get married.” Which of the four tests of worthiness does Erwin’s argument fail? Explain your answer. Pg. 143 Erwin's argument fails the "Test of the Truthfulness if the Premises" (Facione & Gittens, 2016). Because of the diction used to define statutory rape, Edwin's first premise of, "you can't arrest me just because she's 17 and I'm 21," is false, regardless of his following presumptions. As an enforcer of the law, the officer can in fact arrest him for having sex with a minor. 9. Go to Individual Exercises at the end of Chapter 7 and evaluate Example 4, which begins “If God intended marriage…” Assume the premises are true. Applying only tests 2, 3, and 4 (logical strength, relevance and non-circularity), what condition of worthiness and reasonableness does this argument not meet? Explain your answer. (pg. 143-147; I chose logical strength)