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An example: The assassination of John F. KennedySuppose that one were to consider various arguments in favour of the statementthat President Kennedy had been shot by Lee Harvey Oswald (this would be C,the conclusion of each argument). The first argument that could be advanced infavour of C, would be the following:S 1 :Shortly after the assassination Lee Harvey Oswald was noticed in thebook depository from which the shots had been fired.C: Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy.Although S 1 does lend some support to C, it is evident that this does notconstitute a strong argument in favour of the conclusion. The addition of S 2could, however, make some difference:S 1 :S 2 :Shortly after the assassination Lee Harvey Oswald was noticed in thebook depository from which the shots had been fired.Oswald’s palm print was found on a rifle left close to the window fromwhich the shots had been fired.Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.zaC: Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy.There can be little doubt that the addition of S 2 increases the evidence insupport of the conclusion. Nonetheless, if this evidence were to be presented toa jury, it is unlikely that the members would be satisfied with the adequacy ofthe evidence. Assume, however, that we were to add two further pieces ofevidence:S 1 :S 2 :S 3 :S 4 :Shortly after the assassination Lee Harvey Oswald was noticed in thebook depository from which the shots had been fired.Oswald’s palm print was found on a rifle left close to the window fromwhich the shots had been fired.An eye witness identified Oswald as the assassin.According to the ballistic tests that the fatal shots could have been firedfrom the rifle (in S 2 ).C: Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President Kennedy.The support for C offered by the arguments s 1 to s 4 appears to beoverwhelming. In a court of law it would probably be regarded as sufficientevidence.109