SHDH1004 Creative and Critical Thinking

Semester Two 2019/20

Tutorial Exercise 6 Deductive Reasoning (I)

Recall from Lecture 6 that
a. A statement( 陳 述 句 / 述 句 ) is a sentence(句 子 ) which has a truth value.
b. Inference( 推 理 ): An inference is a mental process of linking statements in which a statement is claimed to be
justified by other statements.
c. Argument( 論 證 ): An argument is a group of statements in which one statement is claimed to be justified by (or
to follow from) other statements.
d. Causal Explanation( 因 果 解 釋 ／ 因 果 說 明 ): claims to give the causes and to account for why something is
the case.
e. A reason( 理 由 ) is something used to justify a conclusion in an argument.
f. A cause( 原 因 ) is something used to account for a certain event in an explanation.
g. An argument is valid if the conclusion is justified by (or follows from) the premises with necessity, i.e., it is
necessary that the conclusion is true if all the premises are true. Otherwise it is invalid.
h. An argument is sound if it is valid and all premises are true. Otherwise it is unsound.

1. Determine for each passage below whether it contains an argument. If yes, rewrite the
argument in standard form.
i. He was hit by the car because he was blind.
ii. Many of the world’s greatest philosophers were bachelors. For instance, Descartes, Locke,
Hume, and Kant were all unmarried.
iii. If it is raining, then the street is wet.
iv.If it rains, then the picnic will be canceled. It will rain tomorrow. So the picnic will be
canceled.
v. Children should not be taught not to steal because there is a rule against stealing. They
should be taught not to steal because stealing is wrong.
vi. Dogs make better pets than cats because they’re more intelligent and obedient.

2. Determine for each passage below whether it contains an argument or an explanation.

i. The rate of unemployment falls this year because the economy has improved.
 ii. You need to pay the membership fee because every member should pay and you are our
member.
iii. The department store was crowded with people because there was a big sale.
iv.Jenny must be very unhappy. I am sure about this because whenever she is unhappy she eats
a lot of chocolate, and she has just brought a full bag of chocolate home.
v. 由於德華極之懶惰，在考試前又只顧玩電腦，結果他考試不合格。
vi. 如果丁次吃飽了便不會再去超級市場。你看他現在去超級市場，他一定是吃不飽了。

3. Analyze the following arguments and determine whether they are valid or invalid.

a)就目前警方正式落案起訴趙錢孫的情況看來，我肯定警方已經掌握了足夠證據。因為
如果警方沒有足夠證據，是不會落案起訴他的。

b) Aristotle loves Plato. Plato loves Socrates. Therefore, Aristotle loves Socrates.

c) 若易先生不愛王佳芝，就不會送鑽石戒指給她。易先生是真心愛王佳芝的；所以，
他會送鑽石戒指給她。

4.
記者： 自從政府宣佈要在大嶼山東邊建人工島後，成千上萬巿民上街反對， [1]
反映巿民對人工島計劃有疑慮。政府有沒有甚麼想向巿民解釋？
官員： 每個建設計劃都會涉及風險，巿民不必多慮。 [2]
記者： 政府預計人工島四周的海浪只有兩米高，但香港多處都錄到五米高的 [3]
海浪記錄，這是否代表正在規劃的人工島比自然島嶼更易沉沒？
官員： 你誤會了「人工島」的意思。人工島的沙石也是從大自然取來的，所 [4]
以也是自然島嶼的一種。
記者： 坊間認為杜拜人工島和香港人工島至少有一個會沉沒。你對這個觀點 [5]
有甚麼看法？
官員： 我認為坊間的觀點是對的。基於這個觀點，既然杜拜人工島沉沒了， [6]
香港的人工島當然不會沉沒。

(a) Based on the speeches [5] and [6], what is the official’s argument in speech [6]? Rewrite the
official’s argument in standard form. (3 marks)

基於發言 [5] 和 [6] ，官員在發言 [6] 的論證是甚麼？將官員的論證寫成標準

式。
（3 分）

2
(b) Is the official’s argument in the speech [6] valid? Explain your answer. (3 marks) 官
員在發言 [6] 的論證是否對確？解釋你的答案。
（3 分）

(Extracted from CCT Test 1819S1)