1.

2 Recognizing arguments

THINKIN
Unit 1 - Basic Concepts

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What we learned so far

• Logic deals with principles that distinguish good

from bad arguments
• An argument is a set of propositions of which
one is claimed to follow from the others.
• Propositions are something truth-evaluable.
• The inferential-relation between a premise and a
conclusion is the distinguishing mark of an
argument.
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Learning targets

• Distinguish between arguments and non-

arguments
• Learn about premise and conclusion indicators
and how they could aid us to determine whether
a given passage is an argument or not
• Identify typical non-arguments

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Key concepts

arguments; non-
arguments; premise and
conclusion indicators

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Defining arguments again

We defined an argument as a set of propositions of

which one is said to follow from the others.
That is, an argument has a conclusion, which is
claimed to follow from its premise.
We noted that the inferential-relation between a
premise and a conclusion is the distinguishing mark
of an argument.

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The premise-conclusion structure again

We could show the inferential relation in terms of

the premise-conclusion structure:
PREMISE
-------------------
CONCLUSION

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Extracting the argument
Let's consider this passage from Manuel G.
Velasquez's ‘‘The Ethics of Consumer Production’’:
An agreement cannot bind unless both parties to
the agreement know what they are doing and
freely choose to do it. This implies that the seller
who intends to enter a contract with a customer
has a duty to disclose exactly what the customer is
buying and what the terms of the sale are.
What's the conclusion here? What's the premise?
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Analyzing the passage
Let's try to set this in the premise-conclusion form:
PREMISE: An agreement cannot bind unless both
parties to the agreement know what they are doing
and freely choose to do it.
"This implies that"
CONCLUSION: the seller who intends to enter a
contract with a customer has a duty to disclose
exactly what the customer is buying and what the
terms of the sale are. 8
Extracting the argument
Now let's consider a passage from Thomas
Aquinas's Summa Thelogica:
To every existing thing, God wills some good.
Hence, since to love anything is nothing else than to
will good to that thing, it is manifest that God loves
everything that exists.
Again, what's the conclusion here? What's the
premise?

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Analyzing the passage
Let's try to set this in the premise-conclusion form:
PREMISE: To every existing thing, God wills some
good.
"Hence", "since"
PREMISE: to love anything is nothing else than to
will good to that thing,
"it is manifest that"
CONCLUSION: God loves everything that exists.
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Premise and conclusion indicators

As we have seen in the examples above, some

words might indicate the presence of an argument
in a given passage.
Words like "thus", "since", "because", "hence",
"therefore", etc. might hint to us that a premise or
a conclusion is being stated.

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Premise and conclusion indicators

Note, however, that the presence of these premise

and conclusion indicators is not sufficient for a
passage to be an argument. E.g. "I had this bag with
since yesterday"

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Arguments and non-arguments

A passage may be an argument if a premise or

conclusion indicator is present.
It has an argument if there is an inferential
relation between a premise and a conclusion.
If a given passage does not have this inferential
relation, then it is not an argument.

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Typical non-arguments
• Requests: Please pass your papers on time.
• Commands: Keep off the grass.
• Questions: Who did this?
• Exclamations: Holy $h!t!!!

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• Warnings: WALANG TATAWID
• Pieces of Advice: You should not be absent in
that class.
• Opinions and Beliefs: I think that DLSU rocks.

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• Loosely Associated Statements:
– Love is one thing that everybody wants to give
and to receive. Love is not identical to sex, but
may be closely related. Mature love involves
mutual respect and shared values. Unconditional
love is confined to the love parents have for their
children.

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• Reports
– President Aquino clarified yesterday that members of his
Cabinet and sub-Cabinet were all under evaluation but he
had not made any decision yet on changes.

NOTE:
Some reports contain arguments. (But we could not evaluate
them as arguments).
Other kinds of reports: historical, scientific, business,
economic, etc.

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• Expository Passages
– Leaders in telecommunications envision an amazing array
of features in the new phones. Aside from the usual phone
features, these phones will provide free high speed
perusing of the Web, instant access to news, and have the
ability to be your personal e-purse.

Note: Some expository passages are arguments. The topic

sentence serves as the conclusion, while the other (usually
succeeding) statements are the premises.

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• Illustrations
– A prime number is any number divisible only by
itself and 1. Thus, 2, 5, 7, 11, 13 are prime
numbers.

Note: Examples can also be given to prove

something. If such were the case, then we have an
argument.

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• Conditional Statements
– If interest rates rise, then home sales decline.
– If it rains, then the ground gets wet.
– If I study, I pass.

Note: A conditional statement might figure in an argument.

A conditional statement could be translated into necessary

and sufficient conditions.

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• Explanations
– are groups of statements that claim to shed light on some
event or phenomenon:

SU-Dumaguete was established because the Dr. Hibbard

then saw the need to cater for the educational needs of
the poor in the Philippines during the early days of the
American Regime.

Parts:
explanans (the explanation)
explanandum (the fact to be explained)

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 More on Explanations
• “because” here cues us that an explanation
and not a premise will be given.

• Typically, explanations are about well

accepted matters of fact.

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 Explanations v Arguments
• Explanandum • Conclusion
• Explanans • Premise

No inferential relation Inferential relation

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In this lesson, we learned that:

• The distinguishing mark of an argument is its

inferential relation
• The inferential relation distinguishes passages
that can be considered as arguments from those
which are non-arguments
• Premise and conclusion indicators may aid us to
determine whether a given passage is an
argument or not
• There are typical non-arguments
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Source

Patrick Hurley's A concise introduction to logic,

section 1.2.

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