Exam 9: Analogy and Legal and Moral Reasoning

Judy's dishwasher has a stainless steel front panel, while Jasper's is almond colored enamel.

Judy has five other friends who bought Kitchen Maid dishwashers. All these friends' dishes always come out sparkling clean.

Connie discovers four biology majors who took professor Langley's course in Italian Renaissance history. All four wear Calvin Klein jeans, and so does Connie.

Connie changes her conclusion: She'll get at least an A- in Professor Langley's course.

Judy uses a different kind of soap than Jasper uses.

Judy has five other friends who bought Kitchen Maid dishwashers. All these friends are elementary school teachers.

Morgan discovers 6 acquaintances who bought Goodmonth XK-1 tires. All got 50,000 miles of use.

Connie discovers four biology majors who took professor Langley's course in Italian Renaissance history. All four spent a year taking courses in Florence, Italy.

Judy loads her dishwasher in a helter-skelter manner, whereas Jasper loads his in an orderly way, ensuring proper separation between the plates, bowls, and utensils.

Morgan drives aggressively, but Ashley drives conservatively.

Connie discovers four biology majors who took Professor Langley's course in Italian Renaissance history. All four got As.

Analogy and Moral Reasoning Suppose that you, your spouse, and infant child live in a small house in Galveston, Texas, which is situated on the Gulf of Mexico. Suppose a ferocious hurricane strikes Galveston, knocking out all of the power lines and closing the main highway to Houston. Luckily your house is spared, and you have enough food in your refrigerator and freezer to last for a few days. But without electricity, the food will quickly rot, and your supply of infant formula will spoil. Desperately you race to the closest convenience store to buy a supply of ice, but you find that the store is charging $50 for a ten pound bag. It turns out that all the other stores are charging the same price, and there is no way you can pay this much, especially when you realize you will need several bags. So you race to the local Home Depot to buy a small generator to keep the refrigerator and freezer running. But you find that generators that were going for $200 yesterday are now selling for over $2000. The phenomenon that you have encountered is called price gouging. There is no federal law against price gouging, and while several states have laws outlawing price gouging during an emergency, Texas is not one of them. People who support the morality of price gouging argue that a seller should be able to charge whatever he can get for a product, while those who oppose it argue that it is simply wrong to take advantage of people during an emergency. Develop as many arguments from analogy you can think of either supporting or opposing the morality of price gouging.

Connie took two other history courses with Lydia, and she got the same grade as Lydia in both courses.

Connie and Lydia both use Apple computers.

Judy has five other friends who bought Kitchen Maid dishwashers. All these friends bought a different model from the one Judy and Jasper bought.

Judy has five other friends who bought Kitchen Maid dishwashers. All these friends live in studio apartments.