- PowerScore Staff
- Posts: 984
- Joined: Oct 19, 2022
- Wed Jun 04, 2025 12:31 pm
#113099
Hi Thankyou,
You are confusing situations in which the word "no" is the operative indicator word and when it is not the operative indicator word.
In the example, you cite:
For example: "No dogs are cats."
(Dog) ---> (~ Cat)
The word "no" is the operative indicator word, and the "negative" does apply to the necessary condition.
It would be equivalent to saying, "If dog, then not cat," and by the contrapositive, "If cat, then not dog."
However, when a sentence contains the word "unless" (as the principle in the stimulus does), "unless" is the operative conditional indicator and you should apply the Unless Equation to correctly diagram this sentence.
As discussed in the explanation above (Post #1), the correct diagram using the Unless Equation is:
Licensing Requirement
incompetence poses threat to public safety
You're trying to apply two different diagramming rules at the same time when only one should be used (specifically the Unless Equation), which is resulting in an incorrect diagram.
More information about conditional reasoning, including how to diagram "no" and "unless" statements, can be found in "The Logical Reasoning Bible."
You are confusing situations in which the word "no" is the operative indicator word and when it is not the operative indicator word.
In the example, you cite:
For example: "No dogs are cats."
(Dog) ---> (~ Cat)
The word "no" is the operative indicator word, and the "negative" does apply to the necessary condition.
It would be equivalent to saying, "If dog, then not cat," and by the contrapositive, "If cat, then not dog."
However, when a sentence contains the word "unless" (as the principle in the stimulus does), "unless" is the operative conditional indicator and you should apply the Unless Equation to correctly diagram this sentence.
As discussed in the explanation above (Post #1), the correct diagram using the Unless Equation is:
Licensing Requirement
incompetence poses threat to public safetyYou're trying to apply two different diagramming rules at the same time when only one should be used (specifically the Unless Equation), which is resulting in an incorrect diagram.
More information about conditional reasoning, including how to diagram "no" and "unless" statements, can be found in "The Logical Reasoning Bible."