CCN1004 Creative and Critical Thinking

Semester One 2018/19

Tutorial Exercise 7 Deductive Reasoning (II)

a) A deductive argument( 演 繹 論 證 ) is an argument in which the conclusion is claimed to be justified by (or to
follow from) the premise(s) with necessity( 必 然 性 ), i.e., it is claimed to be necessary that the conclusion is
true if all the premises are true.
b) An inductive argument(歸 納 論 證 ) is an argument in which the conclusion is claimed to be justified by (or to
follow from) the premise(s) with a certain degree of probability( 概 然 性 ), i.e., it is claimed to be probable that
the conclusion is true if all the premises are true.
c) General speaking, a good deductive argument is a sound deductive argument.
d) A bad deductive argument is an unsound deductive argument.
e) For a conditional statement, the antecedent is a sufficient condition of the consequent, and the consequent is a
necessary condition of the antecedent.
f) For a bi-conditional statement, a property p is both a sufficient and a necessary condition for another property q.
We can express this statement as “p if and only if q”, or simply “p iff q”.
g) We have learnt 4 valid deductive argument forms, namely, Affirming Antecedent [Modus Ponens], Denying
Consequent [Modus Tollens], Hypothetical Syllogism, and Disjunctive Syllogism.
h) And we have learnt 2 invalid deductive argument forms, namely, Denying Antecedent and Affirming Consequent.
i) De Morgan’s rule [DeM] is a replacement rule that expresses the negation transformation of conjunctions and
disjunctions, i.e. (i) Not (A and B)≡Not A or Not B; (ii) Not (A or B)≡Not A and Not B.

1. Analyze the following arguments and determine whether the following deductive arguments
are sound or unsound. If they are unsound, please specify whether they are invalid or contain
false premises, or both.

a) 所有大學教授都是人類。
愛恩斯坦是人類。
___________________________
愛恩斯坦是大學教授。

b) 所有中國女排的球員皆是外籍人士。
香港歌手陳弈迅是中國女排的球員。
_________________________________
香港歌手陳弈迅是外籍人士。

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 c) 謝安琪和張繼聰已經結婚或者世界去到終結。世界並非去到終結。因此，謝安琪和
張繼聰已經結婚。
2. Choose the right answer.

a) “I am not going on a picnic in the rain.”

Raining is _______________ condition for my not going on a picnic.
a) a necessary
b) a sufficient
c) a necessary and sufficient
d) neither necessary nor sufficient

b) 工欲善其事，必先利其器；即使利其器，未必善其事。
善其事是利其器的_____________ 條件。
a) 必要而非充分
b) 充分而非必要
c) 必要和充分
d) 既非必要，亦不充分

c) 工欲善其事，必先利其器；若能利其器，即可善其事。
善其事是利其器的_____________ 條件。
a) 必要而非充分
b) 充分而非必要
c) 必要和充分
d) 既非必要，亦不充分

d) 雖然善其事很多時都已利其器，但是利其器者不一定能善其事。
善其事是利其器的_____________ 條件。
a) 必要而非充分
b) 充分而非必要
c) 必要和充分
d) 既非必要，亦不充分

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3. 下列哪個雙條件句為真？（可選多於一項）

(a) 某人是王老五 若且唯若 某人未婚

(b) 某人是王老五 若且唯若 某人未婚和某人是男人
(c) 一個論證真確 若且唯若 它對確
(d) 一個論證真確 若且唯若 它對確和前提全真

4. 根據廸摩根定律(De Morgan’s Rule) 改寫以下述句：

(a) 魚與熊掌不可兼得
(b) 魚不可得，熊掌也不可得
(c) 魚不可得或熊掌不可得
(d) 並非魚或熊掌可得

5. Reporter: “What is the relation between social media and amateur politics?”
Scholar: “Unless social media reshapes how information spreads, the trend of anti-politician does
not occur. And only if the trend of anti-politician occurs, amateur politicians can win the election.
Therefore, social media reshapes how information spreads is a necessary condition for amateur
politicians to win the election.”

記者：「社交媒體和素人政治之間有何關係？」
學者：「除非社交媒體重塑資訊如何傳播，否則不會出現反政客的趨勢。而只有當出現反政
客的趨勢，素人政客才會在選舉中勝出。因此，社交媒體重塑資訊如何傳播是素人政客會在
選舉中勝出的必要條件。」

(a) Reconstruct the scholar’s argument into standard form. All three statements must be
written as standard conditional statement “if…then…”.
重構學者的論證為標準式。全部三個述句必須寫成標準條件句「如果…則…」。

(b) Is the above argument valid? Explain your answer.

以上論證是否對確？解釋你的答案。

(c) Is an argument with false premise(s) necessarily invalid? Illustrate your point with a
relevant example.
一個論證有假前提是否必定不對確？試舉一相關例子以說明你的論點。

(From CCT final exam 1617 Semester One)

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6. Consider the following argument.
考慮以下論證：

1. If there is an A in the box, then there is a B as well.

2. Therefore, if there is a B in the box, there is a D in the box.

1. 如果箱中有 A ，那麼箱中也有 B 。
2. 因此，如果箱中有B ，那麼箱中也有D 。

Now look at the six boxes (i) – (vi) below. Which of them can show the invalidity of the above
argument, and which cannot? Explain your answer. (9 marks)

現在查看下面六個箱 (i) – (vi) 。哪幾個箱能顯示上面的論證不對確？哪幾個不能？解釋你

的答案。 (9 分)

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi)

C C A A A
A D B B
C

(From CCT Final Exam 0910 Semester

Two)

7. Study the following passage and answer the questions.

細閱下文並回答以下的問題。

“Chan Tai Man’s payment of his tuition to the college can guarantee his student status. There is no
way for him to continue his student status without paying the tuition.”
「陳大文向學院繳交學費能確保其學生身分。不繳交學費，他就無法可保持其學生身分。」

(i) Rewrite each of the two statements in the passage into a conditional statement. (4 marks)
把文中的兩個述句重寫成條件句。
(4 分)

(ii) Rewrite the two conditional statements in (i) in terms of necessary condition. (4 marks)
以必要條件重寫 (i) 中的兩個條件句。
(4 分)

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 (From CCT final exam 0910 Semester One)