Alejandro does not know much about Mr. Smith but votes to send him to Ottawa. Alejandro likes the Liberal Party and Mr. Smith is a member of that party, so he assumes that he will like Mr. Smith. After the election, Alejandro finds that Mr. Smith does not act like a Liberal and he regrets having voted for him. Alejandro's mistake was forgetting that:
A) a conclusion is true only if the premises are true
B) a conclusion can be valid without being true
C) categorical syllogisms are less reliable than conditional syllogisms
D) conditional syllogisms are less reliable than categorical syllogisms

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Alejandro's mistake was that he assumed that Mr. Smith's party affiliation automatically meant that he would share the same beliefs and values, without actually knowing Mr. Smith's individual views and behavior. This is a failure to recognize that a conclusion, in this case, that Mr. Smith would act as a Liberal, is only true if the premises, or evidence supporting that conclusion, are true. In this case, Alejandro did not have sufficient evidence to support his assumption about Mr. Smith. This aligns with option A, which states that a conclusion is true only if the premises are true.

Alejandro Does Not Know Much About Mr