How arguments work
Pick an editorial in the newspaper or an Internet site and (1) say whether or not there is an argument in it, (2) if there is an argument, lay out the argument clearly in its main parts, and (3) assess (evaluate) the argument.
Translate the following sentences in SC (sentential calculus).
1. If neither Richard nor Quincy is going, Pam is. Answer: (~(R & Q) → P)
2. If Richard is going, then if Pam is staying, Quincy is going.
3. Moby Dick was a white whale.
4. Orson Welles once appeared on I Love Lucy.
5. William Shakespeare was William Shakespeare if and only if he wasn't Francis Bacon.
6. Righteous indignation is the observance of a mean between envy and malice.
7. Malcolm believed in violence but he didn't call it that; he called it intelligence.
8. If you promised then you should do it.
9. The Pythagoreans placed unity above all the other virtues; and they were wrong.
10. It's true that ice melts.
11. You read with care or you learn little.
12. If there is smoke, there is fire.
13. Johnny may have popcorn or ice cream, but not both.
14. I told you what I think. Didn't you listen?
15. Helen will camp if the moon is full, but otherwise not.
16. If I buy a new car, I'll be saddled with high monthly payments, and if I buy a used car I'll have high repair bills. I don't want either. So I won't buy a car.
17. I'll go to school for the next ten years or I'll work for the next ten years. If I go to school, I'll lose the income I could have been earning but I ‘ll be prepared to do what I want to do. If I work, I'll have the income but lose the opportunity to have the career I really want. I guess I have to choose between having money now or having the job I really want.