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WEEK 2
What is an argument?
An argument is simply a claim defended with reasons.
Arguments are composed of one or more premises
and a conclusion.
Premises are statements in an argument offered as
evidence or reasons why we should accept another
statement, the conclusion.
The conclusion is the statement in an argument that
the premises are intended to prove or support.
An argument, accordingly, is a group of statements,
one or more of which (called the premises) are
intended to prove or support another statement
(called the conclusion).
A statement is a
more
than one statement. For example:
Roses are red and violets are blue
Expresses two distinct statements (roses
are red and violets are blue).
Each of these is a statement because each
is capable of standing alone as a
declarative sentence.
phrase or an incomplete
clause, rather than as a complete declarative sentence.
For example:
With mortgage interest rates at thirty-year lows, you
owe it to yourself to
consider refi nancing your home. (radio ad)
Grammatically, this is a single declarative sentence. The
speakers intent, however, is clearly to defend one
assertion (You owe it to yourself to consider refinancing
your home) on the basis of another (Mortgage interest
rates are at thirty-year lows).
The fact that we have to rephrase the sentence slightly
to make this explicit should not obscure the fact that two
statements are being offered rather than one.
Some
that look
likehas
nonstatements
A sentences
sentence
that
the are actually statements and can be used in arguments.
Agrammatical
rhetorical
question
form
of a
An ought imperative
Common premise
indicators:
since because
for given that
seeing that considering
that
in as much as
as
in view of the fact that
as indicated by
judging from
on account of
hence consequently
so accordingly
therefore thus
WHAT IS NOT AN
ARGUMENT?
Something counts as an argument when (1) it is a