Homework Assignment

For today’s assignment, you are going to generate explanations to support Inductive Generalizations, Arguments for Analogy, and Causal Arguments.

Causal Arguments

For each of the examples in 8.8, if the argument is strong, provide a plausible explanation for the relationship between the cause and the effect. If the argument is weak, think of a more likely cause for the effect and provide a plausible explanation for the relationship between the cause and the effect. (Skip #6)

Example: Flipping the light switch would cause the light to go out because it would cut off the electrical current.

Arguments from Analogy

For each of the examples in 8.7, determine whether the correlation between Property 1 and Property 2 is high or low. For those that are high, provide a plausible explanation for this correlation. For those that are low, think of a property that would be highly correlated with Property 2 and provide a plausible explanation for this correlation.

Example: Being a professional basketball player (Property 1) is highly correlated with being abnormally tall (Property 2). The reason for this is that height gives players an advantage in the game.

Inductive Generalizations

For each of the examples in 8.1, think of a property that would be highly correlated with the Relevant Property and then provide a plausible explanation for this correlation.

Example: Preference for the Democratic candidate instead of the Republican candidate (Relevant Property) is highly correlated with voters with below average income. The reason for this is that the Democratic party is more likely to support policies that economically benefit people with below average incomes.