Module 2: Argument Or Not

Question 1

The sun was setting on the hillside when he left. The air had a peculiar smoky aroma, the leaves were beginning to fall, and he sensed all around him the faintly melancholy atmosphere that comes when summer romances are about to end.

Answer 1

Non-argument. Description.

Question 2

To know any claim with certainty, you have to know you are awake. To know you are awake, you have to prove you are awake. Nobody can prove that he or she is awake. Therefore, no one can know any claim with certainty.

Answer 2

Argument. Conclusion: No one can know any claim with certainty.

Question 3

If a diet does not work, then that is a problem. But if a diet does work, there is still a problem, cus the diet will have altered the dieter’s metablism. An altered metabolism as a result of dieting means a person will need less food. Needing less food, the person will gain weight more easily. Therefore, dieting to lose weight is futile.

Answer 3

Argument. Conclusion: Dieting to lose weight is futile.

Question 4

Jane is a better tennis player than Peter.

Answer 4

Opinion.

Question 5

“Lastly, those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the being of a God. Promises, covenants, and oaths, which are the bonds of human society, can have no hold upon an atheist. The taking away of God, though but even in thought, dissolves all”

Answer 5

Argument. Conclusion: Those are not at all to be tolerated who deny the being of a God.

• what point is author saying?
• attempting to defend position? providing evidence?

Question 6

Because she was an only child, she did not develop the independence necessary to care for herself. even at the age of 7, she was unable to put on her own skates.

Answer 6

Non-argument. Causal Explanation

Question 7

If a person knows in advance that his actions risk death, then when he voluntarily takes those actions, he accepts a risk of death. These conditions surely apply to mountain climbers. Therefore, people who climb mountains have accepted a risk of death.

Answer 7

Argument. Conclusion: People who climb mountains have accepted a risk of death.

Question 8

Mathematics is not the queen of sciences, because it is not a science at all.

Answer 8

Argument. Math is not the queen of the sciences.

Question 9

Every morning we wake up, how do we do it? What is happening when awareness dawns? Why do we need to be conscious? Where are we when we sleep or when we die?

Answer 9

Not an argument. Just a series of questions.

Question 10

If it rains tomorrow, then we will not go on a picnic.

Answer 10

Non-argument. Single conditional statement.