Philosophy 101

Introduction to Philosophy

Spring 2005


Argument Extraction, Explanation, and Evaluation (EEE)


To extract an argument from a text, do the following.

(a)       Locate the conclusion of the argument and formulate it in clear, literal terminology.

(b)       Locate the central premises from which the conclusion is derived, and formulate them in clear, literal terminology.

(c)       If necessary, add suppressed premises so as to make the argument valid.

(d)       Write out the entire argument in numbered premise-conclusion form.

The resulting argument should be valid. It should have no idle premises (premises that are not needed to reach the conclusion).



Some words that indicate a premise in a text: ‘because’, ‘for’, ‘since’.

Some words that indicate a conclusion in a text: ‘so’, ‘therefore’, ‘thus’, ‘hence’.



To explain an argument that you have extracted, do the following.

(a)       Define all the technical terms that appear in the argument.

(b)       Give reasons for each of the premises of the argument, line by line. (Do not give any reasons for the conclusion.) In some cases, the author’s text provides reasons to believe the premise. In other cases, you must provide reasons which would lead a reasonable person to accept the premise, preferably reasons that you think the author would accept and that are consistent with the other premises of the argument.

You may, if you wish, present your definitions of technical terms in your line-by-line explanation of the premises.



To evaluate an argument that you have extracted and explained, do the following.

(a)       State whether the argument is valid or invalid. (If you extracted the argument correctly, it will be valid.)

(b)       If it is valid, state the name of the logical form that it exemplifies (MP, MT, etc.).

(c)       State whether the argument is sound.

(d)       If the argument is not sound or it has a controversial premise, point out the weakest premise and criticize it (present some objection to it). Be sure to specify which premise you are criticizing.

I will usually ask you to state a reasonable objection to the argument, even if you think that it is sound. Sometimes, I will ask you to describe how the author might respond to the criticism you present in (d).









Sample Texts for EEE



1. Some softheaded people think that they have free will. But that’s a lot of nonsense. Obviously, everything we do is completely determined by our genes and our upbringing. So no one ever has a choice about what he or she does. So free will is just an illusion.


2. People who say that we don’t have free will just don’t have any common sense. Consider my friend Linda. She ate Rice Chex for breakfast this morning. But she had Cheerios in her cupboard, and eggs and stewed prunes in her fridge. She could have eaten any of them, and she knew she could. But she ate Rice Chex. No one forced her to eat them. No one tied her down and shoved Rice Chex down her throat. No one put a gun to her head, or threatened her in any way. So obviously she acted of her own free will. And that’s just one example. So it’s clear that we sometimes act freely. And all those jokers who say otherwise are just blowhards.