Week 3 Question 3

Within chapter 8 of the boss text book they discuss the different argument types and how you can determine if they are valid or invalid. First off a argument is valid if the conclusion must be true if the premises are true. With that being said, there are several types of argument forms. One of the easier argument forms to understand is the disjunctive syllogism. The disjunctive syllogism is an argument form that only lets two alternatives be the outcome. For example, it could be

Either Mike Ross is a lawyer or he is a Hobo.

Mike Ross is not a Hobo.

Therefore, he is a lawyer.

Another type of argument form is modus ponens, which is a hypothetical syllogism in which the antecedent premise is affirmed by the consequent premise. While this may sound confusing it is simple once you get a hold of it. I had a math class last semester that was based on modus ponens and modus tollens so I have a good understanding on the topic. So an example for this one could be,

If I pass this math class, I get credit for the course.

I passed the math class.

Therefore, I got credit for the course.

Now modus tollens is the opposite of what modus ponens is. Therefore, an example of modus tollens would be,

If I pass this math class, I get credit for the course.

I did not pass the math class

Therefore, I did not get credit for the course.

I hope this brief explanation is helpful.

-Mike Ross