Assignment Paper

CT Online—A3
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1. Say whether the following sentences are tautological, contradictory or contingent. If possible, use a truth table to justify your answer.
A. Business is business.
B. If you can dream it then you can do it.
C. If you can dream it then you cannot dream it.
D. She does what she does.

2. Say whether the following arguments are valid or invalid.
a. AM
A
∴M

b. (H≡L) ⊃ H
H
∴L

c. A ∙ (B  C)
B
∴A≡C

3. Symbolize the following arguments then check for validity using a truth table. To simplify, leave the parenthetical parts out of your symbolization. All of the arguments are based loosely on arguments in Chapter One of The Branded Mind by Eric Du Plessis.
A. (The primary function of emotions is to direct attention, so) If your client’s purchase was motivated by emotion then it was related to attention. Your client’s purchase was (motivated by a desire for well-being or cultural acceptance and was) not related to attention. So, your client’s purchase was not motivated by emotion. [You can leave out the parenthetical parts in your symbolization.] B. (Rewards in the pleasure center of the brain reinforce behavior so) Either we make decisions in order to feel good or the brain is not in control of our decisions. The brain is in control of our decisions, so we make decisions in order to feel good (and marketers should develop brands accordingly).
C. Humans can avoid dissatisfaction in the future (hunger, boredom, loneliness…) if and only if consumers plan for future problems. So, either humans can’t avoid dissatisfaction in the future or they don’t plan for future problems.
D. Brand choice decisions are based on how a consumer would feel if they decided to buy. If that’s true then the marketer’s job is to manage the feeling that the brain associates with the brand. It follows that the marketer’s job is to manage feelings associated with brands.
E. If the branding of soft-drinks (Coca-Cola in particular) plays a greater role in decision than taste does then more people will say they like Coke than Pepsi when told they’re drinking Coke than they do when they’re not told. (Montague’s experiments showed that) more people did say they like Coke than Pepsi when they were told they were drinking Coke (and showed that different regions of the brain were involved when participants considered the brand). So the branding of soft-drinks plays a greater role in decision than taste.

4. Is the following argument valid or not?
If Jan worked for Graham then either she graduated from Cornell or she was a family friend. Jan was no family friend and she didn’t work for Graham, so Jan didn’t graduate from Cornell.
a. Yes, it is valid.
b. No, it is not valid.
c. It is neither valid nor invalid because of an interpretational plurality.
d. It is not valid; it is not invalid; and it is not neither valid nor invalid.

5. Represent the following sentences on a two circle Venn Diagram. Clearly label the circles.
A. Some ALDS games are not on TBS.
B. Nobody that saves for retirement regrets it.
C. Every rational person maximizes expected utility.
D. Some consumers are more influenced by a change in price than by the price itself.
E. It’s not true that all impulse purchases are emotion-based.

6. Which of the following is a conclusion that follows validly from the premise: ‘all merchants are salespersons’?
a. All salespersons are merchants.
b. Some merchants are salespersons.
c. No merchants are salespersons.
d. None of these.

7. Say whether the following pairs of sentences are equivalent.
a. Every Marxist is a socialist. Every socialist is a Marxist.
b. No capitalist is a generous person. No generous persons are capitalists.
c. Some leaders are not imitable. Some imitable people are not leaders.
d. No judges are unjust. All who are just are not judges.

8. Find somewhere a brief propositional argument and symbolize it. Transcribe or copy-and-paste the source material (and cite it) with your symbolization. The source needn’t be academic or reputable.