ation as a conclusion?

(_c_) Have you overlooked any contradictory facts?

(_d_) Are the contradictory facts sufficiently explained when
this inference is accepted as true?

(_e_) Are all contrary positions shown to be relatively
untenable?

(_f_) Have you accepted mere opinions as facts?

2. _Deductions_

(_a_) Is the law or general principle a well-established one?

(_b_) Does the law or principle clearly include the fact you
wish to deduce from it, or have you strained the inference?

(_c_) Does the importance of the law or principle warrant so
important an inference?

(_d_) Can the deduction be shown to prove too much?

3. _Parallel cases_

(_a_) Are the cases parallel at enough points to warrant an
inference of similar cause or effect?

(_b_) Are the cases parallel at the vital point at issue?

(_c_) Has the parallelism been strained?

(_d_) Are there no other parallels that would point to a
stronger contrary conclusion?

4. _Inferences_

(_a_) Are the antecedent conditions such as would make the
allegation probable? (Character and opportunities of the accused, for
example.)

(_b_) Are the signs that point to the inference either clear
or numerous enough to warrant its acceptance as fact?

(_c_) Are the signs cumulative, and agreeable one with the other?

(_d_) Could the signs be made to point to a contrary conclusion?

5. _Syllogisms_

(_a_) Have any steps been omitted in the syllogisms?
(Such as in a syllogism _in enthymeme_.) If so, test any such by
filling out the syllogisms.

(_b_) Have you been guilty of stating a conclusion that really
does not follow? (A _non sequitur_.)

(_c_) Can your syllogism be reduced to an absurdity?
(_Reductio ad absurdum._)

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES

1. Show why an unsupported assertion is not an argument.

2. Illustrate how an irrelevant fact may be made to seem to support an
argument.

3. What inferences may justly be made from the following?

During the Boer War it was found that the average Englishman did
not measure up to the standards of recruiting and the average
soldier in the field manifested a low plane of vitality and
endurance. Parliament, alarmed by the disastrous consequences,
instituted an investigation. The commission appointed brought in
a finding that alcoholic poisoning was the great cause of the
national degener