Phil 102

Premise

A statement in an argument that is being used to provide support for a conclusion

Conclusion

A statement that is supported by the premises

EXAMPLE

1) Some green things are colored things

2) Grass is green

3) Grass is a colored thing

In this instance, 2 and 3 (the premises) support 3 (the conclusion)

EXAMPLE

1) Either aliens exist or 2+1=20

2) 2+1 does not equal 20

3) Aliens exist

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* 1 and 2 support 3

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* Premise indicator words

Because

Since

In that

Given that/as indicated by

May be inferred

Owing to

Conclusion indicator words

Therefore

Implies that

So

We may infer

Hence

Thus

Two components of an argument

At least one of the statements must claim to provide evidence or reason

There must be a claim that the alleged evidence supports or implies something

The factual claim

Do the premises support the conclusion?

Are they true?

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* The inferential claim

Do the premises claim to present evidence?

Non-arguments

Warnings

Piece of advice

A statement of belief or opinion

Loosely associated statements

Statement about the same general stuff

Explanation – an expression that purports to shed light on an event

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* Conditional statements – “If…then…”

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* Deductive vs. Inductive

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* Deductive

100% guarantee to be true

Key words

Absolutely

Certainly

Inductive

Likely to be true

Key words

Probably

Plausible

Reasonable

Syllogism

A logical argument that applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion

All men are mortal.

Socrates is a man.

Therefore, Socrates is mortal

Hypothetical syllogism

Conditional statement for one or both of its premises

If I do not wake up, then I cannot go to work.

If I cannot go to work, then I will not get paid.

Therefore, if I do not wake up, then I will not get paid.

Examples

Because triangle A is congruent with triangle B, and triangle A is isosceles, it follows that triangle B is isosceles...