PHL 399: Reasoning and the Law
Assignments
Winter 2004
Assignment #1
Assignment #1 involves identifying and reconstructing arguments. There are
five passages on pp. 28-30 of the textbook. For each of these passages, identify
all the arguments presented and reconstruct them.
Reconstructing an argument involves listing each premise on a separate
line, drawing a line after this list, and placing the conclusion below that
line. It is essential, in reconstructing an argument that all extraneous
material be left out.
For example, the argument in the following passage:
I wish it weren’t true but, alas, all human beings are
mortal. Socrates must, therefore, be mortal as, after all,
he is human.
should be reconstructed as:
All human beings are mortal.
Socrates is a human being.
Socrates is mortal.
Assignment #1 is worth 10% of your final grade and is due on Tuesday, January
20 th
. Late penalties will be applied to your assignment if it is not turned in by
the due date. The grade for your assignment will be reduced by 1 point (out of
the possible 10 points) for each day it is late, including Saturdays and Sundays.
An assignment that is more than 4 days late will receive a grade of 0.
