WHAT IS AN ARGUMENT?Adapted from:Govier, T. A Practical Study of Argument. Wadsworth Publishing Company; Belmont California. 1985.

Argument:

The evidence are the premises (facts), and the view being argued is the conclusion (opinion).

A person

Below is the model of an argument that has three premises (facts).

 Premise (fact) Frey is short-tempered Premise (fact) Frey is wearing mismatched

socksPremise (fact) Frey is incoherentSo, Conclusion (opinion) Frey did not get enough

sleep last night 

The word so

Before the premise Before the conclusion

since thusbecause thereforefor hencefollows from accordinglyas shown by for all these reasons we can see thatas indicated by on these grounds it is clear thatmay be inferred from consequentlymay be derived from proves thatmay be deduced from it follows thatfor the reasons that we can conclude that

John was late for school because he stopped to pick flowers in the park.

What were the causes of World War I?  It was a crisp and frosty September morning, but

so many problems occupied their minds that the beauty of the day went unappreciated.

 

WHAT ISN’T AN ARGUMENT?Not all passages are arguments. For example…

WHERE AND HOW DO YOU FIND ARGUMENTS?Indicator words can help find arguments, because they

show that a conclusion is being supported by premises;

a) Because all beginnings are in time, and there would be no time in which the beginning could be located. Thus, there can be no such thing as the

beginning of timeb) Since the meaning of a word must be understood by all the people who use that word, the meaning of

a word cannot be a mental image in any one person’s head.

c) Any even number larger than two is divisible by two. Two is divisible only by itself and one. A prime

number is any number divisible only by itself and one. Therefore, two is the only prime number that

is even.

In these examples the indicator words make it very easy to see that there are arguments, and to see what the premises and conclusion are.

However, it is not always so easy…

One way

A second way

If you think

For each of the following passages, determine whether it does or does not contain an argument. 1 The mind cannot be a purely physical entity, for physical

entities can be divided into spatial parts, and the mind cannot be divided into spatial parts.

2 The sun was setting on the hillside when she left. The air had a peculiar smoky aroma, the leaves were beginning to fall, and she sensed all around her the faintly melancholy atmosphere that comes when summer and summer romances are about to end.

 3Smith always thought Jones was very temperamental.

4 If a person really stays on the Weight Watcher’s diet, he or she is bound to lose some weight. Joe didn’t lose weight, so he can’t have kept to the diet.