CHAPTER 3 Evaluating Moral Arguments
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Claims and Arguments
A. Statements
B. Arguments, Premises, and Conclusions
C. Identifying Arguments
D. Indicator Words
II. Arguments Good and Bad
A. Deductive Arguments
1. Valid and Invalid
2. Soundness
B. Inductive Arguments
1. Strong and Weak
2. Cogency
C. Evaluating Premises
D. Evaluating Validity
1. Conditional Statements
2. Valid Conditional Argument Forms
i. Modus Ponens
ii. Modus Tollens
iii. Hypothetical Syllogism
3. Invalid Conditional Argument Forms
i. Denying the Antecedent
ii. Affirming the Consequent
4. The Counterexample Method
III. Implied Premises
IV. Deconstructing Arguments
A. Numbering the Statements
B. Eliminating Irrelevant Parts
C. Dependent and Independent Premises
V. Moral Statements and Arguments
A. Identifying Moral and Nonmoral Statements
B. The Importance of Moral Statements in Moral Arguments
C. The Importance of Nonmoral Statements in Moral Arguments
D. Implied Premises in Moral Arguments
VI. Testing Moral Premises
A. Counterexamples
B. Consistency with Our Considered Moral Judgments
VII. Assessing Nonmoral Premises
A. Use Reliable Sources
B. Beware When Evidence Conflicts
C. Let Reason Rule
VIII. Avoiding Bad Arguments (Fallacies)
A. Begging the Question
B. Equivocation
C. Appeal to Authority
D. Appeal to Emotion
E. Slippery Slope
F. Faulty Analogy
G. Appeal to Ignorance
H. Straw Man
I. Appeal to the Person
J. Hasty Generalization
IX. Writing and Speaking about Moral Issues
A. The Claim to Be Proved
B. The Arguments for or against the Claim
C. Consideration of Alternative Views
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A statement is
a. an assertion about morality.
b. an assertion without a truth value.
c. an assertion that something is or is not the case.
d. a claim that cannot be verified.
2. The utterance “Abortion is morally permissible” is
a. an argument. c. a moral statement.
b. a nonmoral statement. d. an implied statement.
3. In the argument “(1) Premarital sex is morally permissible because (2) it makes people happy,” statement 1 is the ________ and
statement 2 is the ________.
a. conclusion; premise c. main argument; premise
b. premise; conclusion d. implied premise; stated premise
4. An argument in the logical sense is a
a. heated exchange of views.
b. group of statements, one of which is supposed to be supported by the rest.
c. group of statements that leads to a question.
d. group of unconnected statements.
5. In an argument, the supporting statements are known as ________; the statement being
supported is known as the ________.
a. inferences; conclusion c. premises; conclusion
b. premises; deduction d. indicator words; conclusion
6. The phrases “because,” “given that,” “due to the fact that,” and “for the reason that” are
a. conclusion indicators. c. statements.
b. statement indicators. d. premise indicators.
7. Deductive arguments are
a. supposed to offer probable support for their conclusions.
b. usually valid.
c. usually invalid.
d. supposed to give logically conclusive support to their conclusions.
8. A valid deductive argument with true premises is said to be
a. strong. c. fit.
b. sound. d. cogent.
9. Name the form of the following argument: If p, then q. p. Therefore, q.
a. modus tollens c. modus ponens
b. hypothetical syllogism d. reductio ad absurdum
10. Name the form of the following argument: If p, then q. If q, then r. Therefore, if p, then r.
a. hypothetical inductive c. modus ponens
b. hypothetical syllogism d. modus tollens
11. Name the form of the following argument: If the dog barks, something must be wrong. Something must be wrong. Therefore, the dog
will bark.
a. denying the antecedent c. affirming the consequent
b. modus tollens d. hypothetical syllogism
12. Inductive arguments are
a. intended to supplement deductive arguments.
b. intended to be abductive.
c. supposed to offer only probable support for their conclusions.
d. supposed to give logically conclusive support to their conclusions.
13. A strong inductive argument with true premises is said to be
a. sound. c. valid.
b. cogent. d. invalid.
14. In a valid argument, if the premises are true, then the
a. argument is cogent. c. conclusion may or may not be true.
b. conclusion is probably true. d. conclusion absolutely has to be true.
15. What is the implicit premise in the following moral argument? “Same-sex marriage is contrary
to tradition. Therefore, it should never be allowed.”
a. Same-sex marriage is harmful to society.
b. Same-sex marriage is unnatural and therefore should be banned.
c. Whatever causes harm to children should not be allowed.
d. Whatever is contrary to tradition should not be allowed.
16. A moral statement is a
a. statement affirming that an action is bad or that a person is bad.
b. statement asserting a valid moral argument.
c. statement asserting that a state of affairs is actual (true or false) without assigning a moral value to it.
d. statement affirming that an action is right or wrong or that a person (or one’s motive or character) is good or bad.
17. A statement asserting that a state of affairs is actual (true or false) without assigning a moral
value to it is a
a. moral statement. c. valid statement.
b. nonmoral statement. d. strong statement.
18. What is the implicit premise in the following moral argument? “The war did not increase the
amount of happiness in the world. So, the war was morally wrong.”
a. If a war is immoral, it must be considered morally wrong.
b. If a war does not increase the amount of peace in the world, it must be considered morally wrong.
c. If a war does not increase the amount of happiness in the world, it must be considered morally wrong.
d. Some wars increase the amount of happiness in the world.
19. What is a possible counterexample to the following moral principle? “Lying is always wrong.”
a. Lying is morally wrong unless doing so will save a person’s life.
b. Lying to cheat your friend out of money is morally wrong.
c. Lying to save yourself from embarrassment is wrong.
d. Lying is always morally wrong, even if doing so will save a person’s life.
20. The fallacy of assigning two different meanings to the same term in an argument is known as
a. begging the question. c. straw man.
b. equivocation. d. appeal to ignorance.
21. What is the fallacy used in the following passage? “If marijuana is legalized, young people will
assume that smoking marijuana is socially acceptable. That will lead them to give into the
temptation to smoke marijuana themselves, and smoking marijuana can ruin their lives.
Therefore, marijuana should not be legalized.”
a. straw man c. appeal to the person
b. slippery slope d. appeal to ignorance
22. What is the fallacy used in the following passage? “No one can prove that a fetus is not a
person from the moment of conception. So, a fetus must be accorded full moral rights as soon
as it is conceived.”
a. appeal to ignorance c. slippery slope
b. appeal to the person d. faulty analogy
23. What is the fallacy used in the following passage? “Liberals believe in abortion on demand,
which means that killing a baby is permissible any time at all—at conception, in the second
trimester, at infancy. Any of these would be appropriate times to kill a baby, says the liberal.”
a. appeal to the person c. straw man
b. begging the question d. equivocation
24. What is the fallacy used in the following passage? “John argues that active euthanasia is
sometimes morally acceptable. But we can reject out of hand anything he has to say because
he’s an ultraconservative.”
a. equivocation c. appeal to authority
b. begging the question d. appeal to the person
25. The fallacy of drawing a conclusion about an entire group of people or things based on an
undersized sample of the group is known as
a. hasty generalization. c. slippery slope.
b. begging the question. d. faulty analogy.