PHIL 1000 Chapter : Definitions From Book Of Argument
Document Summary
Proposition: a statement that is either true or false, but not both. Premise: also spelled premiss, a proposition that provides support to an argument"s conclusion. An argument may have one or more premises. Argument: a set of propositions aimed at persuading through reasoning. In an argument, a subset of propositions, called premises, provide support for some other proposition called the conclusion. Deductive argument: an argument in which if the premises are true, then the conclusion must be true. The conclusion is said to follow with logical necessity from the premises. Inductive argument: an argument in which if the premises are true, then it is probable that the conclusion will also be true2. The conclusion therefore does not follow with logical necessity from the premises, but rather with probability. For example, every time we measure the speed of light in a vacuum, it is 3 x 108 m/s. Therefore, the speed of light in a vacuum is a universal constant.
