Research Assignment #18: Learn to evaluate the bedrock of a statement and learn to challenge a core that underpins argument. For the Departments of English & Media Studies by Prof Dr Sohail Ansari

Premise vs. Conclusion

By Christine Serva

When you think of the word 'argument,' you probably imagine two people yelling at one another or having some sort of a fight. However, when we're discussing critical thinking, an argument is a term used to describe something that can be far less dramatic than that.

An argument, in this context, is simply a statement, or set of statements, that includes at least one premise and a conclusion.

A premise includes the reasons and evidence behind a conclusion.

A conclusion is the statement that the premise supports and is a way of promoting a certain belief or point of view. To help us better identify the premise and conclusion of an argument, we can take a look at indicator words.

The Role of Indicator Words

Consider the following argument:

Since carrots are full of vitamins, it follows that your body will benefit if you eat them.

In this argument, how do we know which part is considered the premise and which part is the conclusion?

The premise here is the fact that carrots are full of vitamins.

The conclusion is that your body will benefit from you eating carrots.

This statement about carrots includes indicator words. 

Indicator words provide assistance to you when you are trying to identify an argument and its parts.

The phrase Since carrots are full of vitamins uses the indicator word 'since' which is often associated with premises.

The last part of the sentence uses the phrase, 'it follows that' to show that it is a conclusion.

Examples of words or phrases that are typically included in premises:

• because
• since
• given that
• seeing that
• as shown by
• assuming that
• considering that
• for the reason that

Examples of words or phrases that are typically included in conclusions:

• therefore
• thus
• it follows that
• which proves/implies that
• which means that
• as a result
• so
• we may conclude

Missing Indicator Words

A premise and a conclusion may not always look so neat and easy to identify. Sometimes the order will be different than our example. Often there are multiple sentences instead of just one sentence, like we've used here. Sometimes there will be no indicator words used at all! It's important to consider all of the information you are receiving to help you determine if an argument is being made and which is the premise versus the conclusion.

Let's consider another statement about carrots:

Carrots have significant vitamin content, according to research. Eating them will benefit your body.

This argument includes a premise and a conclusion without ever using any indicator words. However, you can identify that it is an argument, and which part is which, by thinking through what is being discussed. Clearly, the person making the statement is making the case for eating carrots and giving evidence for why this is a good thing to do. Indicator words can be helpful when you want to make an argument or when you are trying to identify one, but they don't always have to be included. They are clues that are nice to have and can make things clearer, but they are not always present in arguments.

 Premisses and Conclusions

https://msu.edu/user/blmiller/BasicLogic/PremissesandConclusions.htm

Identifying Premises and Conclusions

Philosophy and other areas of inquiry abound with arguments. But not all written and spoken communications contains arguments. Consider the following two sets of statements:

There is a God. Those who believe in him will have everlasting life.

God exists, for the world is an organized system and all organized systems must have a creator. The creator of the world is God.

Both sets state that God exists. The first set makes additional claims about God, but does not supply reasons why one should believe that God exists. The second set provides reasons why God exists. The argument of the second set of statements can be organized into premises and a conclusion.

Premise 1. The world is an organized system.

Premise 2. Every organized system must have a creator.

Conclusion. The creator of the world is God.

The structure of the argument can be recognized because the word "for" follows the statement "God exists." and precedes the statements that are Premises 1 and 2. This tells us that the statements are premises for the conclusion.

There are many words that function as premise indicators and conclusion indicators.

The structure of the argument can be recognized because the word "for" follows the statement "God exists." and precedes the statements that are Premises 1 and 2. This tells us that the statements are premises for the conclusion.

 There are many words that function as premise indicators and conclusion indicators.

Premise indicators:

For, since, because, for the reason that, granted that

Conclusion indicators:

Thus, therefore, so, hence, consequently, it is shown that

Other expressions function as indicators of premises and conclusions:       

This is not an exhaustive list of those words and expressions that function as indictors of premises and conclusions.

 Nor does every use of these words and expressions function as a premise or conclusion indicator. In most cases, the context will tell us how the words are being used.

To further complicate matters, not all writers and speakers provide these indicators for their arguments. The reader must determine whether the writer intends to present an argument and, if so, which statements are the premises and which the conclusions.

Examples.

(1)          Since all humans have the capacity for creative thought and all capacities should be developed and used, it follows that all humans should think creatively.

This is obviously an argument. The occurrence of "since" tells

us that the first statements in the sentence are premises and "it

follows that" tells us that the last statement is a conclusion. The

standard form for representing an argument is to list the

premises first and then the conclusion with a line drawn under the list of premises.

P1.  All humans have the capacity for creative  thought.

P2. All capacities should be developed and used

C. All humans should think creatively.

If the statements in this example were reversed, it would be the same argument.

All humans should think creatively because all humans have the capacity for creative thought and all capacities should be developed and used.

The premises and conclusion are the same in this version. The use of "because" tells us that the statements following it are premises, and the statement preceding it is the conclusion. The standard form is identical to the above.

(2)            That Michelangelo's David is a truth is shown by the view that beauty is truth and truth is beauty and by the beauty of                         Michelangelo's David.

The expression "is shown by" informs us that the conclusion is "Michelangelos's David is a truth." and the premises are the two statements which follow.

 The standard form for the argument is:

P1. Beauty is truth and truth is beauty

P2. Michelangelo's David is beautiful

C. Michelangelo's David is a truth

Note that when writing the standard form of the argument, some words may be deleted. We need not write

P1. As "The view that beauty is truth and truth beauty."

When writing out an argument in standard form you only need to write out the central information of the statements and not the words that characterize the statement is some way and lend to the style of the writing rather than the content.

(3)            Given that many persons are sentenced to death due to mistakes or careless work by police or prosecutors, the death penalty should be abolished.

This is an argument. The words "Given that" reveal that the first part of the sentence is a reason for the second part of the sentence. In standard form it is:

P1. Many persons are sentenced to death due to mistakes or careless work by police or prosecutors.

C. The death penalty should be abolished

In addition to the explicit premise that many persons are sentenced to death by mistake or careless work by police or prosecutors, there is an obvious implicit (unstated) premise of the argument.

This implicit premise can take many forms; one way to put it is: "It is wrong for persons who do not receive a proper trail to be found guilty and sentenced to death."

The structure of the argument with the implicit premise is:

P1. Many persons are sentenced to death due to mistake or careless work by police or prosecutors.

P2. It is wrong for persons who do not receive a proper trial to be found guilty and sentenced to death. (implicit)

C. The death penalty should be abolished.

It is common in ordinary writing and speaking, i.e. when

not doing so as an illustration in logic, for premises, and sometimes conclusions, to be implicit. The writer may be aware of this and not make the statements because it is assumed that every reader will know what they are, or it may be that the writer is unaware.

Further, the implicit premise may be non-controversial, as is the above, or it may be the most controversial and doubtful premise of the argument. Writing arguments in standard form and supplying implicit premises allows us to identify all the reasons needed to support the conclusion, and thus reach a better evaluation of the argument.

(4)     All restrictions on pornography violate the First Amendment. All  restrictions on pornography are restrictions of free speech. All restrictions on freedom of speech violate the First Amendment.

There are no premise and conclusion indicators in this set of statements. We could interpret it as simply a collection of three related statements and not as an argument. However, we can recognize a pattern that is a form of an argument. The pattern is:

P1. All A are B

P2. All B are C

C. All A are B

In this case the standard form of the argument is:

P1. All restrictions on pornography are restrictions of free speech.

P2. All restrictions of free speech violate the First Amendment.

C. All restrictions on pornography violate the First Amendment.

In this example:

A = restrictions on pornography

B = restrictions of free speech

C = violates the First Amendment

So far we have dealt with single arguments, those with one conclusion and two premises. Arguments in philosophy and in everyday discourse are seldom single arguments. Rather they are extended multiple arguments in which several distinct arguments may be made for the same conclusion or in which the conclusion of one or more arguments may function as premises for a further argument.

A premise 

By Richard Nordquist

A premise is a proposition upon which an argument is based or from which a conclusion is drawn. Put another way, a premise includes the reasons and evidence behind a conclusion.

 A premise may be either the major or the minor proposition of a syllogism—an argument in which two premises are made and a logical conclusion is drawn from them—in a deductive argument. Merriam-Webster gives this example of a major and minor premise (and conclusion):

"All mammals are warmblooded [major premise]; whales are mammals [minor premise]; therefore, whales are warmblooded [conclusion]."

The term premise comes from medieval Latin, meaning "things mentioned before." In philosophy as well as fiction and nonfiction writing, the premise follows largely the same pattern as that defined in Merriam-Webster. The premise—the thing or things that came before—lead (or fail to lead) to a logical resolution in an argument or story.

Premises in Philosophy

To understand what a premise is in philosophy, it helps to understand how the field defines an argument, says Joshua May, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. In philosophy, an argument is not concerned with disputes among people; it is a set of propositions that contain premises offered to support a conclusion, he says, adding:

"A premise is a proposition one offers in support of a conclusion. That is, one offers a premise as evidence for the truth of the conclusion, as justification for or a reason to believe the conclusion."

May offers this example of a major and minor premise, as well as a conclusion, that echoes the example from Merriam-Webster:

1.    All humans are mortal. [major premise]

2.  G.W. Bush is a human. [minor premise]

3.  Therefore, G.W. Bush is mortal. [conclusion]

May notes that the validity of an argument in philosophy (and in general) depends on the accuracy and truth of the premise or premises.

For example, May gives this example of a bad (or inaccurate) premise:

1.    All women are Republican. [major premise: false]

2.  Hilary Clinton is a woman. [minor premise: true]

3.  Therefore, Hilary Clinton is a Republican. [conclusion: false]

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says that an argument can be valid if it follows logically from its premises, but the conclusion can still be wrong if the premises are incorrect:

"However, if the premises are true, then the conclusion is also true, as a matter of logic."​​

In philosophy, then, the process of creating premises and carrying them through to a conclusion involves logic and deductive reasoning. Other areas provide a similar, but slightly different, take when defining and explaining premises.

Premises in Writing

For nonfiction writing, the term premise carries largely the same definition as in philosophy. Purdue OWL notes that a premise or premises are integral parts of constructing an argument. Indeed, says the language website operated by Purdue University, the very definition of an argument is that it is an "assertion of a conclusion based on logical premises."

Nonfiction writing uses the same terminology as in philosophy, such as syllogism, which Purdue OWL describes as the "simplest sequence of logical premises and conclusions."

Nonfiction writers use a premise or premises as the backbone of a piece such as an editorial, opinion article, or even a letter to the editor of a newspaper. Premises are also useful for developing and writing an outline for a debate. Purdue gives this example:

• Nonrenewable resources do not exist in infinite supply. [premise 1]
• Coal is a nonrenewable resource. [premise 2]
• Coal does not exist in infinite supply. [conclusion]

The only difference in nonfiction writing versus the use of premises in philosophy is that nonfiction writing generally does not distinguish between major and minor premises.

Fiction writing also uses the concept of a premise but in a different way, and not one connected with making an argument. James M. Frey, as quoted on Writer's Digest, notes:

"The premise is the foundation of your story—that single core statement of what happens to the characters as a result of the actions of a story.”

The writing website gives the example of the story "The Three Little Cats," noting that the premise is:

“Foolishness leads to death, and wisdom leads to happiness.”

The well-known story does not seek to create an argument, as is the case in philosophy and nonfiction writing.

Instead, the story itself is the argument, showing how and why the premise is accurate, says Writer's Digest:

"If you can establish what your premise is at the beginning of your project, you will have an easier time writing your story. That's because the fundamental concept you create in advance will drive the actions of your characters."

It's the characters—and to some degree the plot—that prove or disprove the premise of the story.

Other Examples

The use of premises is not limited to philosophy and writing. The concept can also be useful in science, such as in the study of genetics or biology versus environment, which is also known as the nature-versus-nurture debate. Alan Hausman, Howard Kahane, and Paul Tidman, in "Logic and Philosophy: A Modern Introduction," give this example:

"Identical twins often have different IQ test scores. Yet such twins inherit the same genes. So environment must play some part in determining IQ."

In this case, the argument consists of three statements:

1.    Identical twins often have different IQ scores. [premise]

2.  Identical twins inherit the same genes. [premise]

3.  The environment must play some part in determining IQ. [conclusion]

The use of the premise even reaches into religion and theological arguments.

 Michigan State University (MSU) gives this example:

• God exists, for the world is an organized system and all organized systems must have a creator. The creator of the world is God.

The statements provide reasons why God exists, says MSU. The argument of the statements can be organized into premises and a conclusion.

• Premise 1: The world is an organized system.
• Premise 2: Every organized system must have a creator.
• Conclusion: The creator of the world is God.

Consider the Conclusion

You can use the concept of the premise in countless areas, so long as each premise is true and relevant to the topic. The key to laying out a premise or premises (in essence, constructing an argument) is to remember that premises are assertions that, when joined together, will lead the reader or listener to a given conclusion, says the San Jose State University Writing Center, adding:

"The most important part of any premise is that your audience will accept it as true. If your audience rejects even one of your premises, they will likely also reject your conclusion, and your entire argument will fall apart.​"

Consider the following assertion: “Because greenhouse gases are causing the atmosphere to warm at a rapid rate...” The San Jose State writing lab notes that whether this is a solid premise depends on your audience:

"If your readers are members of an environmental group, they will accept this premise without qualms. If your readers are oil company executives, they may reject this premise and your conclusions."

When developing one or more premises, consider the rationales and beliefs not just of your audience but also of your opponents, says San Jose State. After all, your whole point in making an argument is not just to preach to a like-minded audience but to convince others of the correctness of your point of view.

Determine what "givens” you accept that your opponents do not, as well as where two sides of an argument can find common ground. That point is where you will find effective premises to reach your conclusion, the writing lab notes.

Exercise:

By Prof Dr Sohail ansari

Write story that does not seek to create an argument. Instead, create the story that itself is the argument, showing how and why the premise is accurate.

Scan texts and prove premise or premises do not lead to a given conclusion as either they are not true or irrelevant. 

Scan texts and mark off premises and conclusions.

Judge the support premises offer to conclusions.

Weaken the premise so that the evidence for the truth of the conclusion is watered down.

Strengthen the premise to re-justify a reason to believe the conclusion.

Make arguments invalid by challenging the accuracy and truth of the premise or premises.

Nonfiction writers use a premise or premises as the backbone of a piece such as an editorial, opinion article, or even a letter to the editor of a newspaper.

 

Scan Indian newspaper and examine Premises

What are arguments?

By Patrick Girard, University of Auckland

Statements are the kind of sentences that can be true or false. When someone is trying to persuade you to believe something, they will express this as a statement.

But how do you know if what they are trying to persuade you of is true or false? Unless they just want you to take their word for it without further discussion—and you probably shouldn’t—they will give you reasons in support of their views.

Those reasons will also be expressed as statements. Together, all those statements form what we call an argument. This course is all about developing skills to evaluate whether arguments are good or bad. We will talk about good and bad arguments later. Before that, we need to be clear on what arguments are, and how to recognise them.

• Definition: An argument is a group of statements some of which, the premises, are offered in support of another statement, the conclusion.

You can 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.

Let’s see a very simple example of an argument:

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.

We can easily isolate the conclusion:

• Stan was breaking the law.

Notice that we do not include the word ‘therefore’ when we state the conclusion. The word ‘therefore’ is not part of the statement that forms the conclusion.

All other statements are premises. We have:

• 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 what we call a conclusion indicator. It is very common to use a conclusion indicator to stress the part of an argument that is being argued for. Arguments can also have premise indicators. Conclusion and premise indicators are words that are used to make clear which statements are premises and which statements are conclusions in arguments. Here’s a list 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. You may have conclusions that are not accompanied by conclusion indicators. But typically, the rule of thumb is that if you have a conclusion indicator, then the statement to which it is attached is the conclusion of the argument. And likewise with premises.

When arguments are given to you in the wild, they’re not always presented in such a clear way. We will show you lots of examples of arguments, and you will see that they quite often look very messy. This means that you will have to do some work to identify the conclusion and the premises. And this is generally far from easy. Because of that, we will represent arguments always in the same format, which we call the standard form of an argument.

 in the wild. Something still in use.

                                                LESSON

Arguments, Premises And Conclusions

 Reading Assignment:  

Logic is the science that evaluates arguments.

An argument is a group of statements including one or more premises and one and only one conclusion.

A statement is a sentence that is either true or false, such as "The cat is on the mat."

Many sentences are not statements, such as "Close the door, please" , "How old are you?"

A premise is a statement in an argument that provides reason or support for the conclusion. There can be one or many premises in a single argument.

A conclusion is a statement in an argument that indicates of what the arguer is trying to convince the reader/listener. What is the argument trying to prove? There can be only one conclusion in a single argument.

 In this lesson you will need to be able to distinguish premises and conclusions:

The foolproof way to do this is to ask yourself what the author of the argument is trying to get you to believe. The answer to this question is the conclusion.

There must also be at least one reason and possibly many. These are your premises.

Your common sense will be of great help here.

You should also study very carefully the lists of premise and conclusion indicator words . There will not always be indicator words, though more often than not there are. You should note as well that the conclusion can often be identified as the statement directly before a premise indicator.

Remember that these are general rules only. Think of indicator words as "red flags." They are positioned in the argument to signal the author's intent, but always check yourself by asking what's being proven, and what the proof is.

Exercise :

 Rewrite the following arguments listing the premise(s) first and the conclusion last. Each line should be a single statement written as a complete sentence. Feel free to modify the sentences as you deem necessary, without changing their basic meaning. (after all you want to be restating this argument, not writing a new one!)

Label the premise(s) P¹, P², P³, etc. and the conclusion C. Leave out any indicator words and any fluff (i.e., sentences which are neither the conclusion nor a premise). 10 points each.

EXAMPLE:

Cats with long hair shed all over the house so you should not get a long-haired cat.

I have heard that they also have lots of fleas.

P¹	Long-haired cats shed all over the house
P²	Long-haired cats have a lot of fleas
C	You should not get a long haired cat

1. Fairdale will win the championship because they have the best team.

2. Since the housing market is depressed and interest rates are low, it's a good time to buy a home.

3. China is guilty of extreme human rights abuses. Further, they refuse to implement democratic reforms. Thus, the U.S. should refuse to deal with the present Chinese government.

4. The revocation of the 55 mph speed limit has resulted in an increased number of auto fatalities. We must alleviate this problem with stricter speed limit enforcement.

5. We may infer that the U. S. military is both capable and competent from the results of the Persian Gulf War.

6. Scientific discoveries are continually debunking religious myths. Further, science provides the only hope for solving the many problems faced by humankind. Hence, science provides a more accurate view of human life than does religion.

7. Jesse is one year old. Most one-year-olds can walk. It follows that Jesse can walk.

8. I deserve a raise. I'm very good at my job.

 Exercise 2:

Write out two arguments you have encountered in the course of your day. First write them as you encountered them, then re-write in the format you practiced in exercise 1. Make sure they are arguments, with premises and conclusions. For now just make sure there is a conclusion and at least one premise and you'll do fine.