Question

Below are some arguments in standard form. Some of them are the fallacies of Affirming the Consequent (AC), Denying the Antecedent (DN), or Undistributed Middle (UM). Identify each by writing the abbreviation in the blank. If an argument is none of those forms, write N. (2 points each, 10 total) _______If the weather turns cold, Orville will knit a hat. The weather turns cold. Orville will knit a hat. ______ If Hortense paid attention and studied well, then she got an A. She got an A. Therefore, she paid attention and studied well. _______If Orville studied well, then he taught Algernon. Orville didn’t study well. Hence, he didn’t teach Algernon. _______If Orville catches the flu, then Hortense will catch the flu. If Orville catches the flu, then Algernon will catch the flu. Therefore, if Hortense catches the flu, then so will Algernon. _______If Hortense gets the job, then she will need a new computer. If she needs a new computer, then she will get one good for gaming. Thus, if Hortense gets the job, she will get a computer good for gaming.

Answer 1

1)NA

The above statement is not Affirming the consequent as the weather turning cold is not the only sufficient condition for Orville to knit a hat, as the hat can be knit in summer.It can be wrn in winter or when the weather turns cold.

But the affirmation of the 'then' clause of the conditional premises confirms the Affirmation of Consequent.Here the 'then' clause is missing which does not confirm the dependency of the conditional statement (or the second half statement) on the first part of the statement.

The other 2 options are also not true as it does not follow the syntax or the formof them.

2)Affirming the Consequent

If Hortense got an A, this does not infer that she paid attention and studied well as she might have cheated to get a A.

But the affirmation of the 'then' clause of the conditional premises confirms the Affirmation of Consequent.Here the 'then' clause confirms the Affirming the Consequent argument.

3)Denying the Antecedent

When the antecedent is made not to be true or negative, then it is conclude that the consequent should alsobe not true.Hence the above statement,since Orville did not study well, he did not teach Algernon.So the above statement is Denying the Antecedent.

4)NA

This does not satisfies the Undistributed middle argument as the middle term here is distributed as it is the subject term.

Furthermore , we are not sure of the major and minor premises here.

5)NA

This does not satisfies the Undistributed middle argument as the middle term(she will need a computer) here is distributed as it is the subject term in the second statement/