Exam 5: The Practice of Argument-Reconstruction

The following argument is valid or forceful. Identify the irrelevant premise: We must abolish fighting in ice hockey. It's barbaric and not essential to the game. Fighting is also dangerous and leads to long term medical and psychological problems for ex-fighters. If part of a sport is dangerous and leads to long term problems for players, then it should be abolished.

The following argument is valid or forceful. Identify the irrelevant premise: A monopsony (single buyer) in an electricity market has existed in each of Ontario, Canada and South Korea and in each case has kept prices low without any noticeable disasters occurring. Hence, the right wing complaints about the energy policy of Labour and the Greens is a childish exaggeration. We should know by now that a private market just doesn't work.