Homework for Philosophy 270, Fall 2006

Homework on §1.1--assigned Fri 8/25 and due Mon 8/28

Consider the premises and possible conclusions from them that are listed below and order the conclusions according to the extent to which they are supported by the premises beginning with any that are entailed by the premises and ending with any that are excluded by (or inconsistent with) the premises.

Don’t expect there to be an obviously correct way of doing this. The point of the exercise is not to find the right order but instead to think about why you order the conclusions as you do. Your answer should (i) give your ordering of the conclusions, (ii) indicate any that are entailed or excluded by the premises, and (iii) give one sentence explaining your reasoning (about the order of two sentences or whether one is entailed or excluded) in the case where the right answer seems least obvious.

[The word glub in the following is intended to be new to you; if you think you already know what it means, you are wrong.]

Premises:
Glubs live all around us
Glubs are furry
Glubs fly

Possible conclusions:
There’s a glub in the next room
There are no glubs
There’s a glub overhead now
Glubs are animals