Given the premises, discuss whether the conclusion of each argument that
follows is (a) true beyond a reasonable doubt, (b) probably true, or (c) possibly
true or possibly false. You should expect disagreement on these items, but the
closer your answers are to your instructor’s, the better.
The number of cellular telephones has increased dramatically in each of
the past few years. Therefore there will be even more of them in use this
coming year.
If you post your answer, we'll be happy to discuss it with you.
I think that the answer would be C.Possibly true or false
I agree that C is the best answer. However, as your instructions state, your teacher may prefer B.
To evaluate the conclusion of the argument, we need to analyze the premises provided.
Premise 1: The number of cellular telephones has increased dramatically in each of the past few years.
This premise indicates that the number of cellular telephones has been increasing significantly over the past few years. We can assume this premise to be true.
Conclusion: Therefore there will be even more of them in use this coming year.
The conclusion suggests that due to the consistent increase in the number of cellular telephones in the past few years, there will be even more of them in use in the coming year.
Based on the given premise, we can say that the conclusion is probably true. Since there has been a steady increase in the number of cellular telephones in recent years, it is reasonable to expect that this trend will continue in the coming year. However, we cannot state it as true beyond a reasonable doubt because we don't have specific data for the future. There is a possibility that other factors could affect the number of cell phones in use in the coming year, such as market saturation or an unforeseen decrease in demand.