Directions: Each question consists of five statements followed by options consisting of three statements put together in a specific order. Choose the option which indicates a valid argument, that is, where the third statement is a conclusion drawn from the preceding two statements.
Example: A. All cigarettes are hazardous to health. B. Brand X is a cigarette. C. Brand X is hazardous to health. Here, ABC is a valid option, where statement C can be concluded from statements A and B.
A. Anteaters like ants. B. Boys are anteaters. C. Balaram is an anteater. D. Balaram likes ants. E. Balaram may eat ants.
Explanation:
(d) ACD is the correct answer choice, as it forms a valid syllogism.
Bl = Balaram AE = Anteaters LA = Creatures who like ants Anteaters like ants and Balram is an anteater.
Therefore, Balram likes ants. (a) DCA is invalid. Just because Balaram likes ants and he is also an anteater, it does not logically follow that all anteaters like ants. It would, however, be valid to conclude that ‘some anteaters like ants.’ (b) ADC is invalid, because if Balaram like ants, we cannot definitely conclude that Balaram is an anteater, as evident from the Venn diagram.
(c) ABC is invalid, because it has four terms: Anteaters, creatures who like ants, boys and Balaram.
Furthermore, E: ‘Balaram may eat ants’ is a tantologous statement and can never feature in a valid syllogism. A ‘may’ statement implies ‘may not’ and is always true (tantalogous), and can always stand on its own, without any supporting premises. Hence, such a statement is of no use to a student of logic, who is concerned with the process of reasoning, arriving at a definite conclusion from definite information given in the premises.
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