Assignment 37 for practical work in media lab: Arguments, premise and conclusions For the Departments of Media Studies by Prof Dr Sohail Ansari

Arguments, Premises And Conclusions

 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 premise is a previous statement or proposition from which another is inferred or follows as a conclusion.

‘If the premise is true, then the conclusion must be true’

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.

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.
Then do exercises 1.1 I 1-22 on your Logic Coach Software. If you need more practice, feel free to do more. If you use up all the exercises in section I, you may do problems from II and send the answers to me to get checked (this section of the text isn't on Logic Coach) 
ASSIGNMENT 1:
 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.

ASSIGNMENT 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 assignment 1. Make sure they are arguments, with premises and conclusions. You'll get more practice distinguishing between arguments and other passages in the next lesson. For now just make sure there is a conclusion and at least one premise and you'll do fine. (10 points each.)

LESSON #2

Recognizing Arguments

In this lesson you will be distinguishing between arguments and other passages or groups of statements that are not arguments. We are focusing simply on whether the group of statements are intended as an argument, not whether it is a good or bad argument--that part comes later. The best way to determine whether a group of statements is an argument is by using common sense to see what is going on in the passage. Is there an attempt at persuasion, i.e., is there a conclusion, and if so what is it? And secondly, are there reasons given in support of the conclusion, i.e., are there premise(s)?
In making an argument the arguer is making two claims. These claims may be explicit or merely implied, but they must be there. One is the factual claim, the claim that the premises given are in fact true, and the other the claim of inference, the claim that the premises are connected to the conclusion in such a way that they prove or support it. This inferential relationship between the premises and the conclusion is the main point of this course, we will be examining it in many ways from many angles.
Next time you give an argument check yourself and see that you are also making these two claims. You will be! What would it mean to give someone a reason to believe something if you didn't intend for that person to think the reason was a true statement? (I don't necessarily mean that you think it's a true statement--you could be lying--but they must think that you think it is for the process of giving a reason to make sense)
Similarly with the claim of inference--the claim that the premise has bearing on the conclusion. What would it mean to give a reason for something if it were clear to everyone involved that you don't see any relationship between the premise and the conclusion? I don't know whether there is an example of such a verbal exchange in Alice in Wonderland, but if there isn't, there should be.
A good method for determining that a passage is not an argument is to recognize what it is instead. The reading discussed nine different types of passages that resemble arguments at first glance but are actually something quite different. Pay special attention in your reading to the differences between conditional statements and arguments and explanations and arguments.

Refer to this chart to refresh your memory:

Warning	no reasons given
Piece of advice	no reasons given
Statement of belief/opinion	no real support given
Loosely associated statements	no inferential relationship
Report	simply states facts (e.g. newspaper articles)
Expository passage	not trying to prove anything, just expanding on a topic
Illustration	gives examples only
Conditional statement	If . . . then statement (an if . . . then statement is not an argument in itself, but arguments are often composed of several if . . . then statements) What follows the "if" is called the antecedent (this is the condition) and what follows the "then" is called the consequent (this is what will result if the condition is fulfilled).
Explanation	Explains why something is the case. An explanation is sometimes difficult to distinguish from an argument because it also involves reasons (and even "premise" indicator words) But, unlike an argument, where the conclusion is the "new" information, in an explanation, the statement being explained--the explanandum, the part of the passage that looks like a conclusion--is usually a commonly accepted fact. The explanans, which can look like premises, are the "new" information in an explanation, whereas the premises are the accepted fact in an argument.

ASSIGNMENT:
Determine which of the following passages are arguments and which are one of the nine other types of passages. For those that are arguments, rewrite them as in Lesson #1. For those that are not arguments, label them according to what they are. Explain your answers if you wish. (10 points each)
1. If this chewing gum contains sugar, then it's fattening. But if it's fattening, then you shouldn't buy any. Thus, if this chewing gum contains sugar, then you shouldn't buy any.
2. The world bank is planning to loan Uganda $15 million to help improve government economic agencies. The purpose of the loan is to allow Uganda to rebuild a governmental apparatus that fell into disrepair under the dictatorship of Idi Amin. Uganda has 50 years to repay the loan.
3. Silver, mercury, and all the other metals except iron and zinc, are insoluble in diluted sulfuric acid, because they have insufficient affinity with oxygen to draw it off from its combination with the sulfurous acid.
4. Freedom of the press is the most important of our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. Without it our other freedoms would be immediately threatened. Furthermore, it provides the opportunity for the advancement of new freedoms.
5. It is strongly recommended that you go to college if you want to get a good-paying job.
6. Young people at universities study to achieve knowledge, and not to learn a trade. We must all learn how to support ourselves, but we must also learn how to live. We need a lot of engineers in the modern world, but we do not want a world of modern engineers.
7. If the graduate program at the state university fails to provide sufficient applicants to fulfill positions in the state government, then the graduate program will risk a reduction in its funds.
8. Several nations now possess the technology to manufacture nuclear weapons, even though they may not actually have built such weapons. Thus, the world is in much greater danger of a nuclear confrontation than one might at first think.
9. Many of the stores in this town are closed on Sunday evening; for instance, Mayberry's, Webster's and The Clothes Rack all close at 6:00 on Sunday.
10. If the earth's magnetic field disappears, then the Van Allen radiation belt will be destroyed. If the Van Allen radiation belt is destroyed, then intense cosmic rays will bombard the earth. Therefore, if the earth's magnetic field is destroyed, intense cosmic rays will bombard the earth.