Statements

Statements are the kind of sentences that are either true or false. Something
can be a statement even if we don’t know whether it’s true or false. For
instance:
• The trains are always late
• I like bananas because they have no bones.
The statement “The trains are always late” is only true if what it describes is
the case, i.e., if it is actually the case that the trains are always late.
It is true that bananas have no bones and I do like bananas, but I like bananas
because they’re tasty and healthy, not because they have no bones. It would a
false statement if I said that “I like bananas because they have no bones”.
Some examples of non-statements are:
• Welcome to the University of Auckland!
• What did you have for dinner?
It would be weird if someone said that “Welcome to the University of
Auckland!” is true. It wouldn’t be appropriate answer. “What did you have for
dinner?” is a question; the sentence doesn’t express something that is either
true or false.
Here’s another example of a statement:
• Veno is part of Promina
o Even though I have no idea what Veno or Promina are. The
sentence expresses something that is either true or false.
The same statement can be true on some occasions and false in others. For
example:
• Patrick is a happily married man.
o This statement was false before Patrick got married. It may be
true right now that he is a happily married man and may be false
in the future.
 Ambiguous statements
One difficulty with statements is that they may sometimes express two
different things. We call those ambiguous statements. For example:
• John greeted everybody with a smile.
This statement can express two different things:
• John was smiling and then he greeted everybody. In this case, it’s true
that he greeted everybody with his smile.
• Maybe there were smiling people and non-smiling people, and John only
greeted the ones that were smiling.
If we use statements that are ambiguous, we may run the risk of having others
misunderstanding what we are saying. In some cases, what others think we are
saying may be very different from what we were trying to express. Another
example might be, Tim is an early bird. He gets up early every morning, and
always before his wife. Suppose he tried to express this by saying:
• I beat my wife up every day.
This statement will most certainly be taken in the wrong way. We have to
make sure that our sentences aren’t ambiguous to avoid misunderstanding.

Consider the following example:

• If humans evolved from monkeys, how come we still have monkeys?
This question doesn’t express something that can be true or false but notice
that a part of this sentence is a statement, namely “humans evolved from
monkeys”. This is a false statement. Humans did not evolve from monkeys.
From our current understanding, humans, monkeys, and apes in general share
a common ancestor that is no longer around. Even though there’s a statement
in the question, it doesn’t make the question itself a statement, i.e., something
that is true or false.
However, in a special context, the same question could be used to express a
statement. We call questions that are used to express statements, rhetorical
questions.
When we encounter a rhetorical question, we should always rephrase it as a
statement. In our case, the statement would be something like this:
• Humans did not evolve from monkeys because we still have monkeys.
Questions, commands, and advice are typically not statements, because they
do not express something that is either true or false. But sometimes people
use them rhetorically to express statements.

Arguments
An argument is a group of statements some of which, the premises, are
offered in support of another statement, the conclusion.
Think of the premises of an argument as reasons that are given in support of a
view, which is expressed in the conclusion of the argument.
Here’s an example:
Stan was driving his truck over the speed limit. He had no excuse for
driving over the speed limit. Furthermore, he was intoxicated. Therefore,
Stan was breaking the law.
From this argument, we can easily isolate the conclusion:
• Stan was breaking the law.
All other statements are premises:
• Stan was driving his truck over the speed limit.
• Stan had no excuse for driving over the speed limit.
• Stan was intoxicated.
The word ‘therefore’ is called as a conclusion indicator. It’s not part of the
statement that forms the conclusion. Hence, the conclusion is “Stan was
breaking the law” and not “therefore, Stan was breaking the law”. Arguments
can also have premise indicators. These indicators are used to make clear
which statements are premises and which are conclusions.
Here’s a list of some of the most common ones:
Conclusion indicators Premise indicators
Therefore Because
Thus Since
Hence Supposing that
Consequently Assuming that
Ergo Given that
Indicator words are not always present in arguments. But the rule of thumb is
that if we have a conclusion indicator, then the statement to which it is
attached to is the conclusion of the argument. And likewise with premises.

Standard form of an argument

The standard form of an argument is a way of presenting the argument which
makes clear which propositions are premises, how many premises there are
and which proposition is the conclusion. The conclusion of the argument is
listed last.
In standard form, argument is presented like such:
P1 1st Premise
P2 2nd Premise
…
Pn nth Premise
Therefore,
C Conclusion
For example:
P1 I’m on leave this week
P2 I never answer work emails when I’m on leave
Therefore,
C I’m not answer work emails this week.
Here’s an argument with missing parts, taken from the cabaret song “Maybe
This Time”:
Everybody loves a winner, so nobody loves me.
But why “nobody loves me”? The only reason provided is that “Everybody
loves a winner”. A premise is missing here and it’s:
• I’m not a winner.
When the premise of an argument is missing, we call that statement a
‘suppressed premise’. The previous argument in standard form would be:
P1 Everybody loves a winner.
P2 [I’m not a winner.]
Therefore,
C Nobody loves me.

We indicate suppressed premise by putting it in brackets. Don’t add

suppressed premises unless they’re really obvious.

Sub-arguments
A sub-argument is an argument that doesn’t support the conclusion directly
but rather supports one of the premises. It’s like reasons to believe the
premise.

Non-arguments
1. Explanations
Statements in explanations are trying to make you understand something and
not convince you that you should believe it (nor reasons to make you believe
other statements). It’s a statement (or collection of statements) asserting why
or how something is the case.
For example:
In 2014, we introduced a new textbook in the Critical Thinking course taught at The University of
Auckland, and we negotiated with the publishers to have a discount for Auckland University students.
It was agreed with the publisher that the textbook would cost $95, but the book was listed at $130.
When students complained about the price, we called the publisher. Eventually, we understood what
happened: the textbook was more expensive than we expected because the person with whom we
had made an agreement on a reduced price for the University of Auckland had left the company, and
the new employee wasn’t aware of the agreement. At some point, the agreement was lost, and
that’s why we didn’t get the discount.

They gave an explanation to their students to make them understand why the
price of the textbook was $130 and not $95. They weren’t trying to convince
the student that the book should be sold at $130.

2. Advice
An example would help us understand why it isn’t an argument.
Suppose Carol says:
• A good way to stop your dog from getting fleas is to spray them with cider vinegar.

Carol isn’t trying to argue that we should spray our dogs with cider vinegar. (It
doesn’t work) She was just giving us a way to get rid of fleas. The advice,
however, can be used as part of an argument since it is a statement.
Your dog has fleas, and a good way of getting rid of fleas is to spray your dog
with cider vinegar. Therefore, you should spray your dog with cider vinegar.
But on its own, advice isn’t an argument.

3. Instructions
Think about instructions to make a cake. We take flour, then we put in an egg,
and then we put in some milk, and we throw the thing in the oven, and
eventually we get a cake. The instructions are not providing any reasons for
anything. Generally, instructions aren’t trying to make a point, they don’t even
have a conclusion.