Communication Skills: Part 2

LA1760 1b
Constructing an Argument
Statements and Arguments
• A. Depression is a condition characterized by changes in appetite, sleep
patterns, and energy levels. Depressed individuals often have trouble
concentrating and finding pleasure in activities they used to enjoy.

• B. In an experiment involving twins raised in different families,

psychologists found that the children had significantly similar rates of
depression. This indicates that depression is more strongly affected by
one’s genetics than by one’s environment.

• C. Treating depression with medication is the same as treating any illness

with medication. Therefore, the patient should not stop taking the
medication just because his symptoms have gone.
Statements and Arguments

An argument … is any group of propositions of which

one is claimed to follow from the others, which are
regarded as providing support or grounds for the truth
of that one. (Copi and Cohen 5).

A statement can give information, express ideas, or

make requests, but does not have the structure of the
argument.
The Structure of an Argument
• Premise
• Conclusion

• Example 1: The investigation of supernatural

phenomena lies outside the realm of science.
Therefore, science can neither prove nor disprove the
existence of God.
The Structure of an Argument
• Example 1: The investigation of supernatural phenomena
lies outside the realm of science. Therefore, science can
neither prove nor disprove the existence of God.

• Premise: The investigation of supernatural phenomena lies

outside the realm of science.
• Conclusion: Science can neither prove nor disprove the
existence of God.
The Structure of an Argument
• The conclusion of an argument is the proposition that
is affirmed on the basis of the other propositions of
the argument,
• and these other propositions, which are affirmed (or
assumed) as providing support or reasons for
accepting the conclusion, are the premises of that
argument. (Copi and Cohen 5)
The Structure of an Argument
• Because he is a heavy smoker, he is likely to get
lung cancer.
The Structure of an Argument
• Because he is a heavy smoker, he is likely to get
lung cancer.

• Premise: He is a heavy smoker.

• Premise (assumed): Smoking causes lung cancer.
• Conclusion: He is likely to get lung cancer.
Premise indicators Conclusion indicators
Since Therefore
Because Thus
As So
For Consequently
Given that As a result
Assuming that It follows that
Inasmuch as Hence
The reason is that Which means that
In view of the fact that Which implies that
The Structure of an Argument
Example 2:

• Because every object’s temperature is above absolute

zero, motion at the atomic level is always present.
--Gerrit Vershuur, “Star Dust,” Astronomy (March 1992): 49.
The Structure of an Argument
Because every object’s temperature is above absolute
zero, motion at the atomic level is always present.

• Premise: Every object’s temperature is above absolute

zero.
• Conclusion: Motion at the atomic level is always
present.
The Structure of an Argument
• Example 3:
A just society cannot possibly pay everyone the same
income, since the aptitudes and efforts of individuals
diverge dramatically, and since the common good is far
better served, accordingly, by systematic inequalities of
reward.
The Structure of an Argument
A just society cannot possibly pay everyone the same income, since the
aptitudes and efforts of individuals diverge dramatically, and since the
common good is far better served, accordingly, by systematic
inequalities of reward.

• Premise: The aptitudes and efforts of individuals diverge dramatically.

• Premise: The common good is far better served by systematic
inequalities of reward
• Conclusion: A just society cannot pay everyone the same income.
Visual Communication and
Logical Fallacies
Interpellation: Louis Althusser's term to describe a mechanism
whereby the human subject is ‘constituted’ (constructed) by pre-given
structures (a structuralist stance). By being named or ‘hailed’ as a
member of a group, a person is led to see themselves as an
ideological subject. For example, when a politician addresses a
crowd as ‘citizens’, or a teacher addresses a class as ‘students’, the
people in those situations are being asked to adopt a certain subject
position or social role that is conducive to the maintenance of the
social order. The situation would be different if they were addressed
as ‘comrades’.

https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.2011080310
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Fallacies

• A fallacy is a type of argument that may seem to

be correct, but that proves, on examination, not
to be so.
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. La Grande Odalisque (1814)
1. Appeal to Authority (Argumentum ad Verecundiam)

• Appeal to authority (argumentum ad

verecundiam): using testimonial evidence for a
proposition when the conditions for credibility
are not satisfied or the use of such evidence is
inappropriate.
• To solve our transportation problems, we have
to put more money into public transport. CNN
News said so last night.
2. Argument ad Ignorantiam
• 1. The Argument from Ignorance: Argument ad
Ignorantiam

The argument from ignorance is the mistake that is

committed when it is argued that a proposition is true
simply on the basis that it has not been proved false, or
that it is false because it has not been proved true.
(Copi and Cohen p.116)
• No one has proved that global warming is actually
occurring, so I’m sure it isn’t.
•Nobody has proved that Mr X is guilty, so he
is innocent.
Is the above sentence a fallacy?
3. Appeal to Majority
• The fallacy of appeal to majority is committed
whenever someone takes a proposition to be true
merely because large numbers of people believe it
(regardless of whether those people actually
constitute a majority).
Kelley, The Art of Reasoning, p. 106.
• The most effective way to increase government
revenues would be to raise the corporate income tax,
since opinion polls show widespread support for this
approach.