Session 5 - 6

Recognizing Arguments: Basic Logical Concepts
Arguments
• What arguments are not
• Hitting people on the head
• Abuse
• Complaining
• Contradiction
• Assertions
• What is an argument?
• One definition
• An argument is a connected series of statements intended to establish a definite
proposition.
Arguments...
• A broader (more correct) definition
• An argument is
• (a) A series of statements, claims, or propositions
• (b) where one or some are the premises
• (c) and one is the conclusion
• (d) where the premises are intended to give a reason for the conclusion
Exercise
• Question 1
• Every argument succeeds in giving good reasons for its conclusion.
• True
• False
• Question 2
• Reptiles include turtles, alligators, crocodiles, snakes, lizards, and the tuatara.
• Yes, this is an argument.
• No, this is not an argument
Exercise...
• Question 3
• World War II occurred after World War I occurred.
• No, this is not an argument.
• Question 4
• The sides of this right triangle are 1 meter long, so its hypotenuse is 2 meters
long.
• No, this is not an argument.
Statements or Claims
• Statements (or claims) are sentences that are either true or false (assertion
or denial)
• Killing an innocent is not morally acceptable
• Almond trees are biologically related to apricot trees
• Lahore is in Sindh
• There can be two or more statements (or claims) in a single sentence

• Pine trees are evergreen and birch trees are deciduous (conjunction)
• “Dr. Adnan’s class is held in room 106, which is in the southern side of
SDSB.”
Statements…
• Not all sentences qualify as statements or claims
• Questions (How are you?)
• Greetings (Hello Hassan)
• Commands (Turn in your homework)
• Requests (Could you help me please)
• Instructions (Put the first cable in the second socket)
• What about rhetorical questions and ought imperatives?

• The common assumption that welfare recipients like being on welfare is false. Does anyone like to be
poor and unemployed? Does anyone like to be regarded as a parasite?
• Be a doctor! You’ve got the talent. You would enjoy the work. You could help many people. And you
could make a lot of money!
• Think of three sentences that are not statements or claims

What are Arguments Used For?
• What about this?
• Turn off your engine when waiting to pick up the kids. Idling longer than ten
seconds in park uses more gas than restarting the car. (Al Gore)
• Why does somebody bother to give an argument instead of just asserting

a statement without an argument?
• Purpose?
• Persuasion
• Justification (could be to achieve various ends)
• Is this person trying to change my mind or change my behaviour?

Questions
• Whether you succeed in persuading someone depends on what effect
your argument has on that person.
True
False
• Whether you succeed in justifying a conclusion depends on what
effect your argument has on the audience.

True
False
Think About This
• It's not enough for an argument to be good in order to be persuasive.
You can have an argument for which every premise is genuinely true,
and where every conceivable flaw in the argument is negated and
still, not have it be persuasive. There will almost always be someone
who either misunderstands the argument, or blindly believes the
opposite of a premise, in face of facts. Human beings aren't always
logical.
Think About This
• The purpose of an argument is to state with clarity, and
some degree of certainty, an opinion or point of view; a
good argument in and of itself may never persuade or
convert anyone to adopt a different way of thinking. So
what. What a good argument does is communicate
clearly what one thinks and why they think it. So the
benchmark of success for many arguments is not
complete persuasion, but how clearly one is understood.
If someone's intent is to blindly refute everything, that's
not an intellectually honest engagement. I've found that
in constructing better, more thoughtful arguments people
may not agree with me, but they're far more considerate
of what I have to say.
Common Conclusion Indicators
• so thus
• therefore accordingly
• hence consequently
• implies that we may infer that
• it follows that which proves that
Common Premise or Reason Indicators
• because after all
• since the reason is that
• for in light of the fact that
• as based on the fact that
Arguments?
• I was bitten by several dogs when I was a child. Therefore, dogs are
dangerous.
• We should abolish the death penalty because it does not deter crime.
Conclusion?
• Since the average American consumes 30 times the amount of the
earth’s resources as does the average Asian, Americans (taken as a
group) are selfish. After all, excessive consumption is a form of greed.
And greed is selfish desire.
Re-Written Argument
• 1. The average American consumes 30 times the amount of the
earth’s resources as does the average Asian.
• 2. Excessive consumption is a form of greed.
• 3. Greed is selfish desire.
• So, 4. Americans (taken as a group) are selfish.
Conclusion?
• It is not permissible to eat cows and pigs, for it is permissible to eat
dogs and cats if it is permissible to eat cows and pigs. But it is not
permissible to eat dogs and cats.
Re-Written Argument
• 1. If it is permissible to eat cows and pigs, then it is permissible to eat
dogs and cats.
• 2. It is not permissible to eat dogs and cats.
• So, 3. It is not permissible to eat cows and pigs.
Argument Markers: Reason Marker
• I am good at sports because I am tall
• I am good at sports, for I am tall
• I am good at sports, as I am tall
• I am good at sports, for the reason that I am tall
• I am good at sports and the reason why is that I am tall
• I am good at sports since I am tall
Argument Markers...
• The sun has been up since 7 o’clock this morning
• It has been raining since my vacation began
• You don’t need to eat so much
• He’s so cool!
• Since he left college, he has been unemployed
Argument Markers...
• Since he failed out of college, he is unemployed
Non-Arguments
• Unsupported Assertions
• Reports
• Illustrations
• Conditional Statements
• Explanations
Unsupported Assertions
• From 1964 to 1972, the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the
history of the world made a maximum military effort, with everything
short of atomic bombs, to defeat a nationalist revolutionary
movement in a tiny, peasant country [ Vietnam]—and failed.
Reports
• Total global advertising expenditures multiplied nearly sevenfold from
1950 to 1990. They grew one-third faster than the world economy
and three times faster than world population. In real terms, spending
rose from $39 billion in 1950 to $256 billion in 1990—more than the
gross national product of India or than all Third World governments
spent on health and education.
Conditional Statements
• If Sarah works hard, then she will get a promotion.
• Sarah works hard. Therefore, Sarah will get a promotion.
• Although conditionals, taken by themselves, are not arguments, they
may express an argument in context.
• “If you want to beat Saad, you should use the French Defense.”

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Session 5 - 6

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Recognizing Arguments: Basic Logical Concepts

• There can be two or more statements (or claims) in a single sentence

• What about rhetorical questions and ought imperatives?

• Think of three sentences that are not statements or claims

• Why does somebody bother to give an argument instead of just asserting

• Is this person trying to change my mind or change my behaviour?

effect your argument has on the audience.

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