PHIL-1003 Lecture 1: PHIL 1003- Document 1

• School: Vanderbilt University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL-1003
• Professor: Tempest Henning

Document Summary

Proposition : a statement; what is typically asserted using a declarative sentence, and hence always either true or false although its truth or falsity may be unknown. With propositions as building blocks, we construct arguments. In any argument we affirm one proposition on the basis of some other propositions. Inference is a process that may tie together a cluster of propositions. An argument is not merely a collection of propositions; it is a cluster with a structure that captures or exhibits some inference. We describe this structure with the terms conclusion and premise. Argument 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. Conclusion in any argument, the proposition to which the other propositions in the argument are claimed to give support, or for which they are given as reasons.