Chapter 1.

6, Problem 23E

Problem
Identify the error or errors in this argument that supposedly shows that if < is
true then is true.

1 Premise

Simplification from
2
(1)

Existential
3 instantiation from
(2)

Simplification from
4
(1)

Existential
5 instantiation from
(4)

Conjunction from
6
(3) and (5)

Existential
7
generalization
 Step-by-step solution

Step 1 of 2

Rules of inference are used as the building blocks to construct more complicated valid argument
forms.

When there are many premises then several rules of inference are used to show that the
argument is valid.

Step 2 of 2
The statement provided in the question is:

If is true then is true.

To support this statement, these are the arguments:

(1) {Premise}

(2) {Simplification from (1)}

(3) {Existential instantiation from (2)}

(4) {Simplification from (1)}

(5) {Existential instantiation from (4)}

(6) {Conjunction from (3) and (5)}

(7) {Existence generalization}

In the step (1), there is an error in the premise, as disjunction is used instead of conjunction.

In the step (5), it cannot be assumed that the same c makes the P as well as Q true as it is
mentioned that P is true for some value of x and Q is also true for some value of x but it is not
provided that both of them are true for the same value of x.