- (a) What is a valid (deductive) argument? Give an example.
(b) How does an inductive argument differ from a deductive one?
(c) What, for the modern or Boolean conception of logic, is the existential fallacy?
(Give an example.) - Dr. Smith has stayed at the Queen’s Hotel every fall for the past six years, when
visiting New York, and has been quite satisfied with her accommodations there. This
year, she plans to stay at the Queen’s Hotel for her fall visit to New York, and
confidently expects to enjoy her stay there again. How would the following facts
impact her conclusion? [Be sure to explain why your give the answers you do.]
(a). When Dr. Smith stayed at the Queen’s Hotel before, she had occupied a single room
twice, shared a double room twice, and twice occupied a suite.
(b) On previous trips, she had travelled to New York by train, but this fall plans to fly.
(c) Last spring, a new manager was put in charge of the Queen’s Hotel.
(d) Dr. Smith had been assigned a suite on all her previous trips, and was again assigned
a suite for this fall’s visit.
(e) Each year, she had also made two other trips to New York, staying in the Queen’s
Hotel, and been quite satisfied.
(f) The Queen’s Hotel has recently replaced the mattresses in all its rooms.
(g) The manufacturer claims that the new mattresses are more comfortable than the ones
used previously.
(h) Two of her friends also stay in the Queen’s hotel in the fall, and are quite satisfied
with the accommodation.
(i) Two people whose opinion she trusts had stayed at the Queen’s Hotel, and been
dissatisfied with the accommodations there.
(j) Dr. Smith decides to revise her conclusion, to say that this year her stay in the
Queen’s Hotel will be the most comfortable she has ever experienced.
[Obviously, when considering (d), set (a) aside; and vice versa.]
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