RECOGNIZING ARGUMENTS

Ayesha Masood
Module 2: LOGIC

Logical Thinking

How do you argue What are the What can be

about a certain patterns of wrong with
truth? arguments? arguments?

Fallacies of reason
Inductive &
Arguments Using the right
Deductive
language
ARGUMENTS
• A group of statements, one or more of which
(called the premises) are claimed to provide
support for, or reason to believe, another
statement (called the conclusion).
ARGUMENTS
• All arguments can be broadly divided into two groups:
• Premises really do support the conclusion—Good Arguments
• Premises do not support the conclusion even if they claim to—Bad
Arguments
ARGUMENTS
• The law prohibits teachers from leading class prayers
in public schools.
Wynona leads students in prayer in her public school
classroom.
Therefore, Wynona is breaking the law.
•2 + 2 = 4
PARTS OF AN ARGUMENT
PREMISES:
Statements in an argument offered as evidence or
reasons why we should accept another statement, the
conclusion.
CONCLUSION:
Statement in an argument that the premises are
intended to prove or support.
STATEMENT
• Meaningful
• Declarative
• Either true or false
• Statements are truth bearers
STATEMENT
• Statement is a logical entity; sentence is grammatical.
• One sentence may be used to express more than one
statement.
Example:
Roses are red and violets are blue
STATEMENT
• Statement can sometimes be expressed as a phrase or
an incomplete clause, rather than as a complete
declarative sentence.
Example:
With interest rates at thirty-year high, you owe it to
yourself to consider opening a savings account.
STATEMENT
• Not all sentences are statements.
• Must be declarative.
Examples:
• Run! (Command)
• What time is it? (question)
• Have we reached yet? (question)
• Let’s go outside the room. (proposal)
• Please give me another plate of food. (request)
EXCEPTIONS
RHETORICAL QUESTION
• Sentence that has the grammatical form of a question
but is meant to be understood as a statement.
Example:
Alyssa, you should quit smoking. Don’t you realize how
bad that is for your health?
EXCEPTIONS
OUGHT IMPERATIVES
• Sentence that has the form of an imperative or
command but is intended to assert a value or ought
judgment about what is good or bad or right or
wrong.
EXAMPLE:
Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you
feel ugly.
STATEMENT
• Statements can be about subjective expression of
opinion and taste or objectively verifiable facts.
Example:
Close the window. We are all freezing in here.
STATEMENT OR NOT?
• Capital punishment is wrong.
• What do you say we stop at the next rest stop?
• Let’s party!
• What a waste!
• Please print your name legibly.
• Toby, never throw a pen at your sister! You could put an eye out! (said
by Toby’s mother)
• I hope that you like your new job.
IDENTIFYING PREMISE AND
CONCLUSION
• INDICATORS WORDS
Since, for, seeing that, inasmuch as, in view of the
fact that, judging from
• CONCLUSION WORDS
Therefore, thus, hence, consequently, so,
accordingly, it follows that, for this reason
IDENTIFYING PREMISES AND
CONCLUSION
HIDDEN PREMISES
• Clearly implied ideas that are not recognized when
the argument is conceived and expressed
Example:
They should never have married—they felt no strong
physical attraction to each other during courtship.
IDENTIFYING PREMISES AND
CONCLUSION
• I think faith is a vice, because faith means believing a
proposition when there is no good reason for believing it.
• There is nothing wrong with burning oil like crazy—oil isn’t
helping anyone when it sits in the ground—so long as there’s
a plan for energy alternatives when the cheap oil runs out.
• Has it ever occurred to you how lucky you are to be alive?
More than 99% of all creatures that have ever lived have
died without progeny, but not a single one of your ancestors
falls into this group!
IDENTIFYING PREMISES AND
CONCLUSION
• That book should be banned because it exposes
children to violence.
• It’s clear why Morton is an underachiever in school—
he has very little self-esteem
• Pure water is healthy to drink, and Pristine Mountain
Water is pure, so I’m treating my body right by
drinking it rather than tap water.
IDENTIFYING ARGUMENTS
1. Group of statements
2. Where one group is premise, and another is conclusion
3. Inferential relationship between conclusion and premises—
explicit or implicit
WHAT IS NOT AN
ARGUMENT?
NON-INFERENTIAL PASSAGES
• Warnings
• Watch your step.
• Advice:
• You should keep car’s mileage in mind when buying a used
car.
• Statement of belief or opinion
• We believe our company must develop outstanding products
 REPORTS
• Simply stating the facts without
NON- drawing any conclusion
INFERENTI • Statements without conclusion
AL UNSUPPORTED ASSERTIONS
PASSAGES • What a speaker believe, without
supporting evidence
• Conclusion without premise
WHAT IS NOT AN ARGUMENT?
CONDITIONAL STATEMENTS
• If-then statement.
• If: antecedent
• Then: consequent
• Conditional statements may be part of an argument
Example:
If Rhode Island were larger than Ohio, and Ohio were larger
than Texas, then Rhode Island would be larger than Texas
WHAT IS NOT AN ARGUMENT?
ILLUSTRATIONS
• Intended to provide examples of a claim, rather than prove
or support the claim.
Example:
Many wildflowers are edible. For example, daisies and day
lilies are delicious in salads.
WHAT IS NOT AN ARGUMENT?
EXPLANATION
• Show why something is the case, not to prove that it is the case.
EXPLANANDUM.
• Statement that is explained
EXPLANANS
• Statement that does the explaining
EXAMPLE:
• Dinosaurs became extinct because of the impact of a large asteroid.
DIFFERENTIATE ARGUMENTS
COMMON KNOWLEDGE TEST
• Statement that the passage seeks to prove or explain
a matter of common knowledge?
PAST-EVENT TEST
• Statement that the passage is seeking to prove or
explain an event that occurred in the past?
Differentiating Arguments
AUTHOR’S INTENT TEST
• Is author’s intent trying to explain why something has
happened/why some event has occurred?– explanation.
• Or is it to provide reasons/examples to accept something as
truth? – argument.
EXAMPLE
• Kevin is majoring in political science because he wants to go
to law school.
DIFFERENTIATING ARGUMENTS
THE PRINCIPLE OF CHARITY TEST
• Always interpret unclear passages generously
• Never interpret a passage as a bad argument when
the evidence reasonably permits us to interpret it as
not an argument at all.
ARGUMENT OR NOT?
• According to baseball statistician Bill James, Stan Musial was a better
all around baseball player than Ted Williams because Musial was, in
addition to being a great hitter, a better fielder and base-runner than
Williams was.
• The British statesman William Gladstone thought that we would all
be healthier if we chewed each bite of food precisely 32 times. Why
else, he argued, did nature endow us with exactly 32 teeth?
• A new study published in the journal Pediatrics found that removing
a child’s tonsils and adenoids can lead to better grades, presumably
because the surgery allows for a better night’s sleep.