LOGIC
An Exercise in Identifying Propositions
A) Instructions:
Identify the propositions in the passages below by
placing brackets [ ] before and after the
propositions. Also identify the following logical traits of the
proposition(s):
-
Subject term
-
Predicate term
-
Type of
proposition: simple or compound
-
Type of
discourse: declarative sentence, clause, rhetorical question, prescriptive
advice
-
Type of
compound proposition: conjunctive, disjunctive, or hypothetical
(conditional)
-
Type of
disjunctive compound proposition: weak or strong
-
Type of
implication if a hypothetical proposition: logical, material,
definitional, decisional, or causal implication
B)
Exercises
1. He arrived in time but out of breath.
2. Clarabelle was a peasant and a seamstress.
3. Aristotle articulated the principles of logic.
4. Either Osama bin Laden is alive or he is not alive.
5. Monica Lewinsky: I’ve parlayed my youthful affair with the Prez
into a lucrative tabloid career! Am I a brilliant opportunistic or what?
6. If politics is a moral pursuit of the common good, then Michael Jackson
is a competent and conscientious director of a Children’s Day Care Center.
7. You can get arrested for murdering your husband with a Mercedes Benz
or for failing to pay outstanding automobile parking tickets.
8. Both Cardinal Bernard Law and former U.S. President Richard “Tricky Dick”
Nixon obstructed justice by concealing evidence of crimes.
9. My hybrid gas-electric car can’t reach New York City if it doesn’t stop
for a battery recharge.
10. Since you don’t want others to harm you in any way, you should likewise
not harm anyone in any way.
11. If tomorrow is Monday, then today is Sunday.
12. Bertrand Russell, 20th-century British philosopher:
Unless God appears to me in person, I will continue to be skeptical about
the existence of such a being.
13. If the Oakland Raiders lost Super Bowl XXXVII then the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII.
14. Rap-music enthusiast: Eminem holds women in the highest esteem.
15. U.N. Iraqi Inspector: If there’s no biological and chemical
weapons in this country then the Catholic Church doesn’t have a pedophilia
problem.
16. Al Sharpton and Joe Lieberman are Democrats and presidential candidates.
17. Disgruntled critic of the American justice system: If O. J.
Simpson didn’t viciously murder his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, then Jesse “the
Body” Ventura is a Harvard graduate. |
