Question

Identify the premises and conclusions in the following passages. Each of the following passages may contain more than one argument.

1. The [Detroit] Pistons did not lose because of the lack of ability. They are an all-around better team. They lost because of the law of averages. They will beat the [San Antonio] Spurs every two times out of three. When you examine the NBA finals [of 2005], that is exactly how they lost the seventh (last game) because that would have been three out of three. The Spurs will beat the Pistons one out of three. It just so happens that, that one time was the final game, because the Pistons had already won two in a row.

Premise

Conclusion

2. Hundreds of thousands of recent college graduates today cannot express themselves with the written word. Why? Because universities have shortchanged them, offering strange literary theories, Marxism, feminism, deconstruction, and other oddities in the guise of writing courses.

Premise

Conclusion

3. Racially diverse nations tend to have lower levels of social support than homogenous ones. People don’t feel as bound together when they are divided on ethnic lines and are less likely to embrace mutual support programs. You can have diversity or a big welfare state. It’s hard to have both.

Premise

Conclusion

4. Orlando Patterson claims that “freedom is a natural part of the human condition.” Nothing could be further from the truth. If it were true, we could expect to find free societies spread throughout human history. We do not. Instead what we find are every sort of tyrannical government from time immemorial.

Premise

Conclusion

Answer 1

1. Premise 1: The Detroit Pistons are a better all-around team than the San Antonio Spurs
Conclusion 1: The Pistons did not lose [ the 2005 NBA finals ] due to lack of ability.

Premise 2: The Pistons will beat the Spurs two out of three times, and the Spurs will beat one out of three times
Premise 3: The Pistons won the series ' 5th and 6th games — two in a row, and if they had won the final game they would have won three out of three.
Conclusion 2: The Pistons lost due to the law of averages

2. Premise: Universities have typically offered strange literary ideas and a number of possibilities instead of the writing courses that should have been given. Unknowingly, the students have been shortchanged.
Conclusion: That is why large numbers of students are unable to write well and express themselves.

3. Premise: ethnically divided people tend not to adopt programs that provide mutual support
Conclusion 1: (and the premise of the following argument): hence, racially diverse nations tend to have lower levels of social support than racially homogeneous nations.
Conclusion 2: a welfare state is therefore in competition with a population that is racially diverse; the more racially diverse a society becomes, the more difficult it is to sustain robust welfare programs.

4. Premise 1: If freedom were a natural part of the human condition, we might expect to find free societies scattered throughout human history.
Premise 2: We do not find it, but instead, from time immemorial, find every kind of tyrannical government.
Conclusion: it is clearly false to say that freedom is a natural part of the human condition (as Orlando Patterson does).

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