When the manufacturers in a given country are slower to adopt new technologies than their foreign competitors are, th...

mkonovodoff February 12, 2020

confrontations and mix ups

if you are confronted with a passage that has lets say..."unless..." and then later says "if..." Do you make premises from both and then consider both?

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SamA February 12, 2020

Hello @mkonovodoff,

"Unless" and "if" are just two indicators of conditionality. These conditional statements will contain a sufficient and necessary condition. If a passage contains two such statements, you must consider both of them. I'll create an example using the words that you mentioned.

Premise 1. The Jazz will not win the game unless Mitchell scores at least 25 points.
Premise 2. If Mitchell has an ankle injury, he will not score 25 points.

1. Jazz win - - - - - - -> 25 points
2. 25 points - - - - - - -> no injury

We can combine these statements in one diagram.

Jazz win - - - - - -> 25 points - - - - - - -> no injury

or

injury - - - - - - -> <25 points - - - - - - - > Jazz lose

What must be true?
The Jazz will lose if Mitchell has an ankle injury.

The connection between the two conditional statements allowed us to draw this conclusion.

There won't always be a connection. Some conditional statements will be completely separate. However, you should consider all of them, because you don't know which one will show up in an answer choice.