What Is An Argument?

* From “The A**HOLE’S Guide To Arguing (Or, How To Succeed In Politics)”

Before we get to the nitty gritty part of dismembering rotten arguments, let us first get to know what one looks like.

So what is an argument?

The Oxford Dictionary defines an argument as:

“A reason or set of reasons given in support of an idea, action or theory.”

In other words, if you want to convince someone of something, you first have to give them a reason to believe that what you are saying is true. Share on X

There are two ways in which you can do this – through induction or deduction.

Induction vs. Deduction

Induction is what happens when we collect experiences and try to fit them into a pattern. A pattern that we later use to predict what is most likely to happen. As you will see, this can give both useful and misleading results.

Here are two examples of inductive reasoning:

Example A

Premise 1: The last time it snowed it was cold outside
Premise 2: It is snowing today
Conclusion: Therefore, it will likely be cold outside today

Example B

Premise 1: The terrorist Tim McVeigh was a Gulf War veteran
Premise 2: John is a Gulf War veteran
Conclusion: Therefore, John is a potential terrorist

The weakness of inductive reasoning is that it takes specific events and tries to make general statements based upon them. Share on X

It relies upon anecdotes instead of evidence, and as you can see this does not always work.

In example A the inductive reasoning might encourage you to dress warm for a snowy day. In example B, the same inductive reasoning could make you terrified of an innocent man that poses no danger to anyone.

A deductive argument uses a well known fact as its premise and tries to predict what will happen based upon that. Share on X It will give better results than inductive reasoning, but mistakes can occur here as well.

Example C

Premise 1: Pigs can not fly
Premise 2: Hilda is a pig
Conclusion: Therefore, Hilda can not fly

Example D

Premise 1: All rabbits are animals
Premise 2: Lassie is an animal
Conclusion: Therefore, Lassie is a rabbit

Example C is what a deductive argument should look like.
Both premises are true, and so is the conclusion.

Example D is a logical fallacy known as deductive invalidity. In this example it is easy to see what is wrong. Lassie is the name of the dog in the old TV-series, and as we know, a dog can not be a rabbit.

Even though both premises are true, the conclusion is still false. So what happened here?

If you look at the argument in example D, you will notice that it has the following form:

All A’s are B,
X is B,
Therefore, X is A

If an argument is written in this form, it is invalid.

But what then is a good argument?

‘Whatever convinces the other that you are right’, you might say. But as this book will show you, people get fooled by bad arguments every day. So what should you look for to not get fooled yourself?

What you need to look for is a sound deductive argument.

A sound argument is one where both the premises and the conclusion based upon these premises are true. Share on X

Example E

Premise 1: All Greeks are human
Premise 2: All humans are mortal
Conclusion: Therefore, all Greeks are mortal

If it is true that all Greeks are human, and that all humans are mortal, then it must be true that all Greeks are mortal. It could not be any other way.

Now that you know what an argument looks like (both the good and the bad), let us take a look at their ugly cousins.

© Merlyn Gabriel Miller