Arguments Illustrating Indicator Words.

1. Hey Joan, you better take your feet off the coffee table because mom’s about to enter the house.

2. Everyday we see innocent children being killed in some way all over the world. This shows that life has no meaning.

3. Since capital punishment deters crime and because it guarantees that a killer can never kill again, we can conclude that capital punishment ought to be permitted.

4. Capital punishment should not be an option because an innocent person may be executed and there are cases where persons have been executed who have turned out to be innocent.

5. Given that capital punishment deters crime and seeing that it guarantees that a killer can never kill again, it follows that capital punishment ought to be permitted.

6. Capital punishment should not be an option since an innocent person may be executed and there have been cases where persons have been executed who have turned out to be innocent.

7. He has a bomb, so he’s dangerous.

8. He’s dangerous because he has a bomb.

9. He has a bomb, then he must be dangerous.

10. He’s dangerous, the reason being that he has a bomb.

Indicator Words:

Premise Indicators:

since
because
given that
on the grounds that
as shown by
in view of the fact that
seeing that
as
due to the fact that
being that
assuming that
for the reason that
inasmuch as
for the reason being that

Conclusion Indicators:

therefore
thus
consequently
which implies that
it follows that
we can conclude that
so
hence
as a result
it must be that
ergo
in conclusion
it follows that
it demonstrates that
it shows that

An Argument Without a Conclusion Being Stated and Missing Indicators.

John: I think earth is the only place in the universe where life has flourished and developed.
Judy: I doubt it. The universe is infinite. It can’t be  that in an infinite universe only one place has the special features needed for life.

Examples of Explanations/Theories:

1. John broke his arm because he fell off the ladder when he was painting the house.

2. Natasha bought her wedding dress yesterday because her wedding day is quickly approaching and could not afford to wait any longer.

3. Mary threw the apple in the garbage because it had become stale.

4. I believe what the Bible tells me because my mother told me to do so.

Further Examples of Explanations:

1. Janet took her jacket because the weather report says it is very cold today.

2. Look the streets are wet. And I know why. It rained last night.

3. You don’t like me, don’t you? I know - I’m ugly.

4. Birds are not mammals because to be considered a mammal you have to have been born alive and you are breast-fed. Birds are not like that.

5. She went home because her mother was ill.

Explanation or Argument?

Derek is the best math student in the class because he’s the only one in the class that gets to go to that special math school in the evening.

Homework Exercise in Recognizing Arguments

Determine whether not the following passages contain an argument.

1. People normally believe what others tell them unless there is reason to be suspicious. This reliance on other people is called depending on testimony

2. The sun was setting on the hillside when he left. The air had a peculiar smoky aroma, the leaves were beginning to fall and he senses all around him the faintly melancholy atmosphere that comes when summer and summer romances are about to end.

3. To know any claim with certainty you have to know you are awake. To know you are awake, you have to prove you are awake. Nobody can prove they are awake. Therefore no one can know any claim with certainty.

4. Jane was a better tennis player than Peter.

5. Every loyal citizen must demonstrate his loyalty to the state by taking an oath. To be credible, that oath must be sworn on a religious text. No atheist can swear an oath on a religious text. So we can see that no atheist can demonstrate his loyalty to the state.

5. Mathematics is not the foundation of the sciences because it is not a science at all.

6. If all goes well, the reactor and the steam generator in a nuclear power plant of the pressurized water variety maintain a stable, businesslike relationship such as might obtain between two complimentary monopolies. The reactor can be thought of as selling heat to the stream generator.

7. If you want to be successful in business on a long term basis, you must match your operational expertise with an ethical code of conduct practiced in every phase of your business.

8. Every morning we wake up. how do we do it? What is happening when awareness dawns? Why do we need to be conscious? Where are we when we sleep or when we die?

9. The cause of the confusion was an ambiguous ext sign.

10. It is not essential to be tall to Be good at basketball. The point is that basketball teams often have players of average height who make contributions to the game through fast running and ex-pert passing.

11. Good health depends on good nutrition. Good nutrition requires an adequate budget to buy whole foods rather than processed foods. Therefore, good health requires a budget adequate to buy some whole foods, not process foods.

12. It is well known that dolphins, whales and elephants communicate with each other. In fact, even bees communicate with each other. So, human beings are not the only animals that communicate.

13. Only if they are meticulous about cleanliness and preventive measures can hospitals hope to prevent the spread of disease on their premises. The local hospital is not meticulous about cleanliness and preventive measures. Consequently, we can expect that it will not manage to prevent the spread of disease.

14. If a person knows in advance that his actions risk death, then when he voluntarily takes those actions, he accepts a risk of death. These conditions surely apply to mountain climbers. Thus, people who climb mountains have accepted risk of death.


15.The only way you can license nuclear power plants and no have murder is if you could guarantee perfect containment. But they admit they’re not going to contain it perfectly. So, licensing nuclear power plants is licensing murder.