Question

Consider the following argument: "Since Jori is allergic to cats and her apartment complex does not allow dogs, it must be the case that Jori does not have a pet." What are the premises of this argument, and what is the conclusion? What words in the argument indicate the premises and conclusion?

a) Premises: Jori is allergic to cats, apartment complex doesn’t allow dogs; Conclusion: Jori does not have a pet; 'Since' indicates premises, 'must be the case that' indicates conclusion
b) Premises: Jori is allergic to cats, Jori lives in an apartment complex; Conclusion: Jori does not have a pet; 'Since' indicates premises, 'does not allow' indicates conclusion
c) Premises: Jori has allergies, her apartment complex doesn’t allow pets; Conclusion: Jori doesn’t have a pet; 'Since' indicates premises, 'must be' indicates conclusion
d) Premises: Jori is allergic to animals, her apartment complex allows only cats; Conclusion: Jori has a cat; 'Since' indicates premises, 'does not allow' indicates conclusion

Answer 1

The argument provided has two premises and one conclusion, with 'since' indicating the premises and 'must be the case that' indicating the conclusion. Option (a) correctly identifies the parts and cues of the argument.

Step-by-step explanation:

The argument presented contains two premises: "Jori is allergic to cats" and "her apartment complex does not allow dogs." These are reasons provided to support the assertion. The conclusion of this argument is that "Jori does not have a pet." The word 'since' is a cue that the following statements are the premises, and the phrase 'must be the case that' signals that the conclusion follows from these premises. Therefore, the correct identification of the premises and conclusion in the provided argument is option (a): Premises: Jori is allergic to cats, apartment complex doesn’t allow dogs; Conclusion: Jori does not have a pet; 'Since' indicates premises, 'must be the case that' indicates conclusion. It is important to note that this argument assumes that cats and dogs are the only possible pets, which may not always be the case, leading to the possibility that there are alternative arguments with equal or greater support.