Understanding

Arguments
Dr. Ahmad Faraz Khan
All-Star Wrestling = Real?

Is All-Star Wrestling real?

Do you watch Wrestling?
Do you like Wrestling?
Why do you like Wrestling?
Arguments

2. What is an Argument?

1. Distinguishing
Fact & Opinion
3. Identifying Premises
& Conclusions

4. What Is Not
an Argument?
8. Writing
Arguments

5. Deduction &
Induction
7. Evaluating
Arguments 6. Analyzing
Arguments
Distinguishing Fact & Opinion

Vince Carter is a
Basketball Player. He
plays in the NBA and
represented USA in the
Sydney Olympic Games
2000. He is currently the
best player in the NBA.

Facts and
Opinions,
please
identify.
Distinguishing Fact & Opinion
Fact = Can be proved or disproved
Opinion = Personal Belief

“Gubra starts at 9.00 pm. It’s a great movie!”

 Facts
Tell who, what, when, where, or how much.
Have a verifiable truth value.
Can be quantified and is specific. "A fact is a thing that
Are supported by evidence. is occurred, to exist,
or to be true."

Fact Opinion
New Delhi is the capital of India. New Delhi is the best city in the
world.
AMU is a University in India.
I love studying at AMU
Navneet is more than 6 feet tall. Navneet is very good looking.

(Source: The Oxford American Dictionary of Current English in English Dictionaries and Thesauruses; 2003)
 Some Opinion Clues

Opinions Judging
Good, Better, Best, Bad, Worse,
Predicting
Will
Worst, Should, Must Shall

Tend to be vague.
Are personal beliefs or value judgments.

An opinion is a view about a particular issue.

It is what the person believes or thinks, and
is not necessarily the truth.

Fact
New Delhi is the capital of India.
AMU is a University in Malaysia.
Navneet is more than 6 feet tall.
Opinion
New Delhi is the best city in the
world.
I love studying at AMU.
Navneet is very good looking.
 Facts and
Exercise I: iPhone Opinions,
please
identify.

“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes

along that changes everything… It's the ultimate
digital device. It's like having your life in your pocket.“

“The iPhone will be ultra-slim - less than half-an-inch

(1.3cm) thick - boasting a phone, Internet capability
and an MP3 player as well as featuring a two
megapixel digital camera”

I am Steve
Jobs, so you can
trust me.
 Facts and
Exercise I: iPhone Opinions,
please
identify.

“This is a leapfrog product with a revolutionary new

interface with software five years ahead of any
other phone and desktop class applications, not
those crippled applications you find on those other
phones”

"Most advanced phones are called smart phone.

But they are actually not so smart, and really not so
easy to use. When you get a chance to get your
hands on it, I think you'll agree, we've reinvented
the phone.”
I am Steve
Jobs, so you can
trust me.
What Is an Argument?

A Claim Defended with Reasons.

Argument - A form of thinking in which certain statements

(reasons) are offered in support of another statement (a
conclusion).
Premises (Reasons) - Statements that support another
statement (known as a conclusion), justify it, or make it more
probable.
Conclusion - A statement that explains, asserts, or predicts
on the basis of statements (known as reasons) that are
offered as evidence for it.
Example – A Simple Argument

• Lawyers earn a lot of money. (Premise)

• I want to earn a lot of money. (Premise)
• I should become a Lawyer. (Conclusion)
Identifying Premises & Conclusions

TIPS
Look for premise indicators that provide clues when
premises are being offered.
Examples: because, since, for, given that, as,
judging from, and seeing that.

Look for conclusion indicators that provide clues

when conclusions are being offered.
Examples: therefore, thus, hence, so, as a result,
accordingly, consequently, and which shows that.
Identifying Premises & Conclusions

TIPS
If the passage contains no indicator words, try
these two strategies:
 Ask yourself, "What claim is the writer or
speaker trying to prove?" That claim will be
the conclusion.
 Try putting the word "therefore" before each of
the statements in turn. The statement it fits best
will be the conclusion.
Exercise 1

Make a will. Otherwise, the state will

determine who gets your stuff.
(Andrew Tobias, "Isn't It Time You Faced the Future?" 2001)

Identify the
premise(s)
and conclusion
of this
argument.
Exercise 2

Research universities also must aggressively

support teaching. After all, a significant
percentage of their students are
undergraduates, and such institutions are
clearly obligated to provide them a quality
education.

Ernest L. Boyer, Scholarship Reconsidered, 1990)

Identify the
premise(s) and
conclusion of
this argument.
Exercise 3

No one who observes people can pretend

that in fact they always seek anything like
their own long-run advantage. If this were the
case only stupidity could explain how
frequently and obviously they act contrary to
their own long-run advantage. People are not
that stupid!
(Charles Hartshorne and Creighton Peden, Whitehead's View of Reality, 1981)

Identify the
premise(s) and
conclusion of
this argument.
Exercise 4

We have good reason to believe that people will exist

in the future and that they will be similar enough to us
that we can have a good idea of what their well-being
requires. Knowing this and knowing that our present
actions can influence their future well-being, it is
reasonable to conclude that future people must be
given some ethical consideration by presently living
human beings.
(Joseph R. DesJardins, Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy, 3rd ed., 2001)

Identify the
premise(s) and
conclusion of
this argument.
What Is Not an Argument?

An argument is a claim defended with reasons.

More precisely, a passage is an argument if and only if:

It is a group of two or more statements.

One of those statements (the conclusion) is claimed
or intended to be supported by the other(s) (the
premises).
What Is Not an Argument?
• Notice three important things that follow from this definition:

 Arguments consist entirely of statements (sentences that it

makes sense to regard as either true or false). Questions,
commands, and other kinds of non-statements cannot be parts of
arguments
(Keep in mind, however, that rhetorical questions should
be treated as statements.).
 No single statement is an argument. Arguments always consist of
at least two statements.

 Nothing counts as an argument unless it is claimed or intended that

one statement follows from one or more other statements in the
passage. In other words, a passage is an argument only if the
speaker or writer intends to offer evidence or reasons why another
statement should be accepted as true.
What Is Not an Argument?
Five kinds of passages that are sometimes confused with arguments are:

Reports A statement or group of statements intended simply

to convey information about a subject.
Unsupported Is a statement or set of statements in which the
statements of belief or speaker or writer expresses his or her personal
opinions opinion, but offers no reasons or evidence to back up
that opinion.
Illustrations Is a passage intended to provide examples that
illustrate or support a claim, not to provide convincing
evidence that the claim is true.
Conditional Statements Is an if-then statement. It is an assertion that such-
and-such is true if something else is true.
Explanations Is a statement or set of statements that seeks to
provide an account of why something has occurred or
why something is the case.
Example: Report

Planet Earth was much drier in the Triassic than it is

now, and there were large deserts in inland areas.
There were no flowering plants or grasses--they
evolved much later. The most common trees were
conifers, similar to today's pines. Other large plants
included yews, ginkgos, and the palmlike cycads.
Moisture-loving ferns and horsetails thrived by lakes
and rivers.

(Philip Whitfield, Simon & Schuster's Children's Guide to Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, 1992)
Example: Unsupported statements of belief or
opinion

For the person who called and said Larry Bird was
better than Michael Jordan, wake up. No one was
ever better than Michael Jordan, not even Kareem
in his glory and not even Dr. J.

(From a newspaper call-in column)

Example: Illustration

Almost all groups agree in holding other groups to

be inferior to themselves. The American Indians
looked upon themselves as the chosen people,
specially created by the Great Spirit as an
uplifting example for mankind. One Indian tribe
called itself "The Only Men"; another called itself
"Men of Men"; the Caribs said, "We alone are
people."

(Will Durant, Our Oriental Heritage, 1935)

Example: Conditional Statement

If Aida comes to the wedding then I will

come to the wedding.
Example: Explanation

I speak good English because my parents

encouraged me to practice it everyday.
 Summary
1. Distinguishing Fact = Can be proved or disproved
Fact & Opinion Opinion = Personal Belief

2. What is an Argument? An argument is a claim defended with reasons.

3. Identifying Premises Look for premise indicators that provide clues when
premises are being offered (e.g. because, since, for).
& Conclusions
Look for conclusion indicators that provide clues when
conclusions are being offered (e.g. therefore, thus,
hence, so).
If the passage contains no indicator words, try these
two strategies: 1) Ask yourself, "What claim is the
writer or speaker trying to prove?" That claim will be the
conclusion. 2)Try putting the word "therefore" before
each of the statements in turn. The statement it fits
best will be the conclusion.
4. What Is Not Five kinds of passages that are sometimes confused
with arguments are: Reports, Unsupported statements
an Argument?
of belief or opinions, Illustrations, Conditional
Statements, and Explanations
Any Questions?