CCC8011 Critical Thinking Term 2, 2021-2022

Solutions to Assignment 1
Due: Submit your assignment to Turnitin through Moodle before 11.55pm, Thursday 3
March. Make sure you write your name on the assignment you submit (so that your name
appears on your assignment as it is printed out). Marks will be deducted if you do not do
this. Also make sure that your writing is sufficiently large in order to be easily read.

Q1) Determine what problems the following reportive definitions have. Explain your
answers. Appeal to possible situations to explain your answer where helpful to do so.
a) ‘speaker’ (on one meaning) means ‘machine that can make sound’
Solution: Too broad, since there is a possible situation where there is a drill that is a
machine that can make sound, but is not a speaker.
Marks: 1.5
b) ‘river’ means ‘natural flow of water in a long line having a width of at least 10 metres
that travels across land to the sea’
Solution: Too precise, since having a limit of 10 metres in width is too precise. Also, too
narrow, since rivers do not have a lower limit in width length, and so there are rivers with
a width of less than 10 metres.
Marks: 1.5
Q2) Which of the following are true. Explain your answers.

a) Necessarily, either there are kangaroos in Australia or there are no Kangaroos in

either Australia or New Zealand

Solution: False, since `Either there is a kangaroo in Australia or there are no

kangaroos in either Australia or New Zealand’ is false in a possible situation where
there are Kangaroos in New Zealand but not in Australia.

Marks: 1

Common mistake: It is not true that `Either there is a kangaroo in Australia or there
are no kangaroos in either Australia or New Zealand’ is false in every possible
situation where there are Kangaroos in New Zealand.

b) In the future, Dan might travel faster than the speed of light between Hong Kong and
Paris.

Solution: True, since the physical laws could have been different and allowed things
to travel faster than the speed of light

Mark: 1

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 CCC8011 Critical Thinking Term 2, 2021-2022
Common mistake: Students often confused the relevant notion of possibility (which
was genuine possibility) with other types of possibility, such as technological and
physical possibility, or did not clearly distinguish between them.

c) The following could have been the case: the number of US citizens is 300 million, the
number of Chinese citizens is 1400 million and the number of people who are either
US citizens or Chinese citizens is 1600 million

Solution: True, since there is a possible situation where the number of US citizens is
300 million, the number of Chinese citizens is 1400 million and there are exactly 100
million people who are both US citizens and Chinese citizens. In such a possible
situation, ‘the number of US citizens is 300 million, the number of Chinese citizens is
1400 million and the number of people who are either US citizens or Chinese citizens
is 1600 million’ is true.

Mark: 1

d) For any thing x, necessarily, either x is a red square or x is not red or x is not a square

True, since, for any x, necessarily if x is not a red square, then x is either not red or
not a square.

Mark: 1

Q3) Are these statements true or false? For those that are false, describe a possible situation
that explains your answer.

a) Being the greatest president is sufficient for not being the worst president

Solution: False, since there is a possible situation where there is only one president,
and hence that person is both the greatest and worst president in that situation.

Mark: 1

b) Being known to be true is necessary for being true

Solution: False, since there is a possible situation where the claim that the number of
stars in the universe is 1 trillion is true, but no one knows that it is true.

Marks: 1

Common mistake: The possibility of a false claim being believed to be true does not
show that the answer is false.
Q4) Which of the following arguments are valid. For those that are not valid, describe a
possible situation where all the premises are true and the conclusion is false.

a) John is happy and Mary is happy

Bill is happy or Sue is sad
Bill is happy or Jane is sad

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 CCC8011 Critical Thinking Term 2, 2021-2022
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Bill is happy

Solution: Not valid. An example of a possible situation where all the premises are true
and the conclusion is false is the following: John is happy, Mary is happy, Sue is sad,
Jane is sad and Bill is not happy.

Marks: 2 (1 mark for correct answer, and 1 mark for explanation)

Common mistake: Did not fully describe a possible situation where all the premises
are true and the conclusion is false.

b) John is happy and Mary is happy

If John is happy then (Bill is happy or Sue is sad)
If Mary is happy then (Bill is happy or Sue is not sad)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Bill is happy

Solution: Valid

Marks: 1

c) John is happy or Mary is happy

If John is happy then (Bill is happy and Sue is happy)
Mary is not happy
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sue is happy

Solution: Valid

Marks: 1

d) Mr X has a drink
Whenever Mr X has a drink, he has another drink
If all the drink runs out, then Mr X stops drinking
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mr X has infinitely many drinks

Solution: Valid
Marks: 1

e) If Carrie Lam is less than 6 metres tall, then she is less than 7 metres tall
If Carrie Lam is less than 7 metres tall, then she is less than 8 metres tall
If Carrie Lam is less than 8 metres tall, then she is less than 9 metres tall
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carrie Lam is less than 9 metres tall

Solution: Not valid. An example of a possible situation where the premises are all true
and the conclusion is false is one where Carrie Lam is less than 9 metres tall (but the
premises are all still true)

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 CCC8011 Critical Thinking Term 2, 2021-2022

Marks: 2 (1 for correct answer and 1 for explanation)

f) Either John is happy or Mary is happy

If John is happy then Mary is sad
If Mary is happy then John is happy
If Mary is sad then Mary is not happy
--------------------------------------------
Mary is not happy

Solution: Valid
Marks: 1

Q5) Is the following group of statements consistent? If it is consistent, describe a possible

situation where the members of the set are all true. If it is not consistent, explain why.

All Huawei phones are terrible, but some are better than others
No Huawei phone is better than any Sony phone
No Sony phone is better than any Samsung phone
No Samsung phone is better than any iPhone
No iPhone is better than any Huawei phone

Solution: Not consistent. Explanation: If the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th sentences are true, then all
Huawei, Sony, Samsung and iPhone phones are equally good. But this conflicts with the 1st
sentence.

Marks: 1 mark for correct answer, 2 marks for correct explanation

Common mistake: ‘No Huawei phone is better than any Sony phone’ does not entail ‘Every
Sony phone is better than every Huawei phone’, since there are possible situations where ‘No
Huawei phone is better than any Sony phone’ and ‘Every Huawei phone is equally good to
every Sony phone’ are both true