Philosophy 2220, Homework: Conditionals and Moral Vocabulary

Part 1: Falsifying conditionals
For each of the following conditionals, underline the antecedent and circle the consequent. Then give an example that shows that the entire conditional is false. I prefer real to made up examples.



For example: If one does not like art museums then [that person is uncultured]. Counterexample: Ray Charles is very cultured but doesn't like art museums because he is blind.



1. If someone is successful, then they worked hard for their success.

2. All prime numbers are odd.

3. Whenever someone makes you feel inferior, you consented to feeling that way. (a translation of "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent," said by Eleanor Roosevelt)

4. All happy people are people who are doing something they consider valuable to society.

5. All even-numbered movie sequels are better than odd-numbered sequels (in the same franchise).

6. Whenever someone accomplishes something, they should feel proud.

7. If someone takes something that is not theirs, then they are a thief.

8. If you stop trying to do something, then you are a failure at it.


Part 2: Moral vocabulary
For each of the following, translate the original sentence into a sentence that means the same thing but uses the terms specified. E.g. for 1a, write a sentence that means "Humans have an innate right to life," but uses "wrong" instead of "have an innate right to..."; for 2b, write a sentence that means the same as "Humans have an innate right to life," but uses "duty" instead of "have a right to..."

Don't worry about whether any of the sentences are true. It also shouldn't matter from what standpoint any of these are speaking (I guess you could assume that these are all from the moral standpoint).

Example:
Murder is wrong. (a) duty: "We have a duty to not murder."
(b) (someone) has a right: "People have a right not to be murdered."

9.Humans beings have an innate right to life.

(a)wrong

(b)duty

10.It is wrong for Ted to takes Janna's pen.

(a)duty

(b)(someone) has a right (against)

11.Judges have a duty to try to help juries make the right decision about defendants.

(a)wrong

(b)(someone) has a right (against)

12.It is wrong for humans to eat animals.

(a)duty

(b)(someone) has a right (against)

13.It is a student's duty to be honest to their teacher.

(a)wrong

(b)(someone) has a right (against)

14.Students have a right to a quality education.

(a)wrong

(b)duty

15.People have a right to medical care.

(a)wrong

(b)duty

16.Torturing prisoners is wrong.

(a)duty

(b)(someone) has a right

17.Do citizens have the duty to obey police officers?

(a)wrong

(b)(someone) has right (against)

18.Is it wrong to tell people jokes that they find offensive?

(a)duty

(b)(someone) has a right

Part 3: Some history
Give an example from history (American history, preferably), of a law that really existed where it would be (uncontroversially) morally wrong for a person to do what the law said they should do.