Premises and Conclusions

An argument

According to LeBlanc, an argument is simply any "attempt to justify or prove a conclusion".

The logical structure of an argument

All pugs are dogs (premise).

All dogs are mammals(premise).

Therefore, all pugs are mammals (conclusion).

Conclusions

"Conclusions are the statement that the author of the argument wants you to believe. Conclusions can be signalled by words such as therefore, thus, so, and consequently. Although it's called a conclusion, the conclusion statement does not have to be at the end of the argument, and can come at the beginning."

Premises

"Premises are used as evidence for the conclusion, their purpose is to make us believe the conclusion. Premises are often indicated by words like because, since and due to. Conclusion is only as strong as its premises. If any of the premises are problematic, then the conclusion is also problematic. In formal logic, if all of the premises are valid, it should be impossible for the conclusion to be invalid."

Statement

"In formal logic, a statement is any sentence that is either valid or invalid. For example, the sentence “the book is green” is a statement. Statements can function as either premises or conclusions. However, a question is not a statement, so “Is the book green?” would not be classified as a statement. Equally, instructions are not statements. So the sentence, “Paint the book green!” is not a statement, nor is a simple sentence like “Stop!” or “Open the door!”

Implicit premises and conclusions

"Often, particularly in everyday discourse, we make arguments where either a premise or a conclusion is implied either by the situation, by general knowledge, or because we don't want to overstate a point.

Advertisements are a common type of argument where the conclusion is often left implicit. In fact, according to LeBlanc, all advertisements are arguments. Their conclusion: buy this product."

Rhetorical questions

"A rhetorical question is a question that has obvious answer. "

Source

https://www.coursera.org/learn/critical-thinking-skills/home/info

Vocabulary

Premise is used as evidence for the conclusion.

Statement - something you say or write, especially publicly or officially, to let people know your intentions or opinions, or to record facts.

Assumption - something that you think is true although you have no definite proof.

To invalidate - to show that something such as a belief or explanation is wrong. To invalidate arguments.

Implicit - suggested or understood without being stated directly.

Sound - sensible and likely to produce the right results.

Convincing- making you believe that something is true or right.