Bassham Power Point Ch02a

8/4/2019 Bassham Power Point Ch02a

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Identifying Premises and

Conclusions

This tutorial will give you practice indistinguishing premises from

conclusions.

Chapter 2


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1. No one under eighteen-years-old can vote.

2. Jen is under eighteen-years-old.3. Therefore, Jen cannot vote.

Arguments are composed of one or morepremises and a

conclusion. Premises are statements offered as reasonsfor accepting another statement. A conclusion is a

statement supported by reasons.

In this example, statements 1 and 2 are premises, and

statement 3 is the conclusion.


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Distinguishing premises from conclusions is a skill that requires

both practice and close attention to the nuances of language.

Here are some tips that will help you separate premises fromconclusions:

1. Look for premise indicators--words like because, since, for, and

given that--that provide clues when premises are being offered.

2. Look for conclusion indicators--words like therefore, thus, hence,

and so--that provide clues when conclusion indicators are being

offered.

3. If the passage contains no indicator words, try these two strategies:

a. Ask yourself, "What claim is the writer or speaker trying to prove?"

That claim will be the conclusion.

b. Try putting the word "therefore" before each of the

statements in turn. The statement it fits best will be the conclusion.


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A good society treasures its dissidents and mavericks

because it needs the creative thinking that produces new

hypotheses, expanded means, a larger set of alternatives,and, in general, the vigorous conversation induced by

fresh ideas. (Nel Noddings, Philosophy of Education, 1995)

Identify the premise(s) and conclusion in this argument.


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A good society treasures its dissidents and mavericks

because it needs the creative thinking that produces new

hypotheses, expanded means, a larger set of alternatives,and, in general, the vigorous conversation induced by

fresh ideas. (Nel Noddings, Philosophy of Education, 1995)

Premise: A good society needs the creative thinking that that

produces new hypotheses, expanded means, a larger set of

alternatives, and, in general, the vigorous conversation induced

by fresh ideas.

Conclusion: A good society treasures its dissidents and

mavericks.

Notice the word because in this passage. This tips us off that a

premise is being offered.


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Since in American schools every child is unique and of

equal worth with every other child, academic competition,

which subverts this egalitarian and individualist creed,must be discouraged. (Stated but not endorsed in E.D.

Hirsch, Jr., The Schools We Need and Why We Dont Have

Them, 1996)



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Since in American schools every child is unique and of

equal worth with every other child, academic competition,

which subverts this egalitarian and individualist creed,must be discouraged. (Stated but not endorsed in E.D.

Hirsch, Jr., The Schools We Need and Why We Dont Have

Them, 1996)

Premise 1: In American schools every child is unique and ofequal worth with every other child.

Premise 2: Academic competition subverts this egalitarian and

individualist creed.

Conclusion: Academic competition must be discouraged.

Here the premise indicatorsince helps us to identify the first

premise.


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Make a will. Otherwise, the state will determine who gets

your stuff.

(Andrew Tobias, "Isn't It Time You Faced the Future?" 2001)



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Make a will. Otherwise, the state will determine who gets

your stuff.

(Andrew Tobias, "Isn't It Time You Faced the Future?" 2001)

Premise: If you don't make a will, the state will determine who

gets your stuff.

Conclusion: You ought to make a will.

The word otherwise often functions--as it does here--as premise

indicator.

Notice that both the premise and the conclusion have been

rephrased slightly. The premise has been rephrased in order tomake it a complete sentence. The conclusion has been restated

in order to make clear that it is intended as a statement rather

than as a command.


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Research universities also must aggressively support

teaching. After all, a significant percentage of their

students are undergraduates, and such institutions areclearly obligated to provide them a quality education.

Ernest L. Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered, 1990)

Identify the premise(s) and conclusion of this argument.


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Research universities also must aggressively support

teaching. After all, a significant percentage of their

students are undergraduates, and such institutions areclearly obligated to provide them a quality education.

Ernest L. Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered, 1990)

Premise 1: A significant percentage of research universities'

students are undergraduates.

Premise 2: Such institutions are clearly obligated to provide

undergraduates with a quality education.

Conclusion: Research universities also must aggressively

support teaching.

Notice the phrase "after all." This phrase is often used as a

premise indicator.


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The Jews and Arabs have been fighting for centuries and I

seriously doubt this will ever be resolved. The United

States should get out of this never-ending fight, or thenext terrorist bomb might be in Washington--and it just

might be nuclear.

(John G. Ferguson III, Letter to the Editor, USA Today, February 12, 2001)



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The Jews and Arabs have been fighting for centuries and I

seriously doubt this will ever be resolved. The United States

should get out of this never-ending fight, or the next terroristbomb might be in Washington--and it just might be nuclear.

(John G. Ferguson III, Letter to the Editor, USA Today, February 12, 2001)

Premise 1: The Jews and Arabs have been fighting for centuries.

Premise 2: There is serious doubt this will ever be resolved.

Premise 3: If the United States does not get out of this never-endingfight, the next terrorist bomb might be in Washington--and it might benuclear.

Conclusion: The United States should get out of the never-ending

fight between the Jews and the Arabs.

In this passage, there are no indicator words to assist us, howeverthe form of the last sentence ("X should do Y, or else Z will happen")is a common conclusion-premise pattern.


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No one who observes people can pretend that in fact they

always seek anything like their own long-run advantage. If

this were the case only stupidity could explain howfrequently and obviously they act contrary to their own

long-run advantage. People are not that stupid!

(Charles Hartshorne and Creighton Peden, Whitehead's View ofReality, 1981)



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No one who observes people can pretend that in fact they always

seek anything like their own long-run advantage. If this were the

case only stupidity could explain how frequently and obviously

they act contrary to their own long-run advantage. People are notthat stupid!

(Charles Hartshorne and Creighton Peden, Whitehead's View of

Reality, 1981)

Premise 1: If people always seek anything like their own long-

run advantage, then only stupidity could explain how

frequently and obviously they act contrary to their own long-run advantage.

Premise 2: People are not that stupid.

Conclusion: No one who observes people can pretend that in

fact they always seek anything like their own long-run

advantage.

Here again there are no standard indicator words to assist us.

However, by sticking "therefore" in front of each of the three

sentences in turn, we can see that only the first sentence

makes sense as the conclusion.


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Many people yearn for a return to "religiousness" to

education, so they press for laws permitting vocal prayer

in the classroom. But I cannot join them. Vocal prayer inclass dictates a consensus that does not exist in our

pluralistic society, and any prayer that is so vaguely

worded that it sounds agreeable to all is, by my limits, no

prayer at all.

(Parker J. Palmer, To Know As We Are Known: Educationas a Spiritual Journey, 1993)



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Many people yearn for a return to "religiousness" to education,

so they press for laws permitting vocal prayer in the classroom.

But I cannot join them. Vocal prayer in class dictates a

consensus that does not exist in our pluralistic society, and anyprayer that is so vaguely worded that it sounds agreeable to all

is, by my limits, no prayer at all.

(Parker J. Palmer, To Know As We Are Known: Education as a

Spiritual Journey, 1993)

Premise 1: Vocal prayer in class dictates a consensus that does not exist in ourpluralistic society.

Premise 2: Any prayer that is so vaguely worded that it sounds agreeable to allis, by my limits, no prayer at all.

Conclusion: Although many people yearn for a return to "religiousness" toeducation, and for this reason press for laws permitting vocal prayer in the

classroom, it would be a mistake to enact such laws.

In this argument, while it is relatively easy to identify the premises, it is trickyto accurately state the conclusion. Notice how some creative rephrasing isnecessary in order to capture precisely the claim the writer wants to defend.


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We have good reason to believe that people will exist in

the future and that they will be similar enough to us that

we can have a good idea of what their well-being requires.

Knowing this and knowing that our present actions can

influence their future well-being, it is reasonable to

conclude that future people must be given some ethical

consideration by presently living human beings. (Joseph

R. DesJardins, Environmental Ethics: An Introduction toEnvironmental Philosophy, 3rd ed., 2001)



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We have good reason to believe that people will exist in the future and

that they will be similar enough to us that we can have a good idea of

what their well-being requires. Knowing this and knowing that our

present actions can influence their future well-being, it is reasonable toconclude that future people must be given some ethical consideration by

presently living human beings. (Joseph R. DesJardins, Environmental

Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy, 3rd ed., 2001)

Premise 1: We have good reason to believe that people will exist in the future and

that they will be similar enough to us that we can have a good idea of what their

well-being requires.

Premise 2: We know that our present actions can influence future peoples' well-

being.

Conclusion: Future people must be given some ethical consideration by presently

living human beings.

In this passage, the conclusion indicator "it is reasonable to conclude that" helps

us identify the conclusion.

Notice that the second premise has been restated in order to make it a complete

sentence.


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With what group do I belong? I am with those who would be

pleased to be refuted if I should say anything that is not true, and

pleased to be the refuter of anyone who should say anything thatis not true--more pleased, in fact, to be refuted than to refute. I

think that's a greater good, you see, insofar as it's a greater good

to be relieved of a great evil than to relieve another of the same.

(Socrates, in Plato's Gorgias)



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With what group do I belong? I am with those who would be

pleased to be refuted if I should say anything that is not true, and

pleased to be the refuter of anyone who should say anything thatis not true--more pleased, in fact, to be refuted than to refute. I

think that's a greater good, you see, insofar as it's a greater good

to be relieved of a great evil than to relieve another of the same.

(Socrates, in Plato's Gorgias)

[This is the end of the tutorial] X

Premise: It is a greater good to be relieved of a great evil than torelieve another of the same.

Conclusion: It is a greater good to be refuted than to refute.

In this passage, the premise indicator "insofar as" helps us to

identify the premise.

Notice that the first two sentences aren't strictly part of the

argument. Their function, instead, is to provide background or

contextual information necessary to understand the argument.

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