Anatomy of Arguments

THE ANATOMY OF AN ARGUMENT
Neither a closed mind nor an empty one is likely to produce much that would
qualify as effective reasoning.
—Nickerson (1986, p. 1)

The technical meaning of the word argument is different from its everyday meaning. When we use the word argument in everyday language, it means a dispute or a quarrel. We say two people "are having an argument" when they disagree about something in a heated or emotional way.

More technically, an argument consists of one or more statements that are used to provide support for a conclusion. The statements that provide the support for a conclusion are called the reasons or premises of the argument.

The reasons or premises are presented in order to persuade the reader or listener that the conclusion is true or probably true. Let's consider an example.

Suppose that I want to convince you to stay in college until graduation. Here are some reasons (premises) that I could give. You can think of this as an addition problem with each premise summing to the conclusion.

Premise #1: College graduates earn more money than college dropouts or people who
have never attended college.

+ Premise #2: College graduates report that they are more satisfied with their lives than people who have not graduated from college.

+ Premise #3: College graduates are healthier and live longer than people who have not graduated from college.

+ Premise #4: College graduates have jobs that are more interesting and more
responsible than people who have not graduated from college.

Conclusion: You should graduate from college.

Arguments are sometimes called "the giving of reasons." Harmon (1986) calls this process "a change in view" because the objective is to change an "old view" or belief
into a "new view" or belief with reasoning. Old View Reasoning New View or Belief or Belief

Every argument will have one or more premises (or reasons) and one or more conclusions. Usually, there will be several premises for one conclusion, but other combinations (one premise for several conclusions and several premises for several conclusions) are possible. If you cannot identify at least one premise and at least one conclusion, then it is not an argument.

Of course, in everyday, natural language arguments, the premises and conclusions are not labeled. They are usually embedded in extended prose. The extended prose could be a paragraph, a section or chapter of a book, or even an entire book or semester-long class.

Here are some examples of prose that are not arguments:

I like my critical thinking course better than my chemistry course. (No reasons
are given for this preference.)

We drove up to the mountains, went skiing, then drove home. (This is just a descriptive list of activities linked together. There are no reasons or conclusions.)

Buy your burgers at Burgerland. (No reasons given, but see the section below
because reasons are often inferred from context in statements like this one.)

We saw the Martians land. (This is a simple description.)

Never trust anyone under 30. (This is an opinion without reasons.)

Is dinner ready? (simple question.)

It may seem that it should be fairly simple to determine whether a statement or set of statements contain an argument, but in everyday language most arguments are incomplete.

Sometimes the premises aren't stated, but are inferred, and other times the conclusion is unstated. Sometimes arguments are deliberately disguised so that it may appear that the speakers are not supporting some conclusion, when they really are. Consider the popular automobile advertisement that goes something like this:

More people have bought LaBaroness automobiles than any other American car.

At first glance, this seems like a straightforward declarative sentence with no
reasons and no conclusion.

But, the advertisers expect consumers to convert this sentence into an argument. When you hear this sentence, you presumably start generating your own reasons for the popularity of LaBaroness. If more people are buying it, it must be best and shouldn't you also buy the best? This is an example in which the listener supplies both the reasons and the conclusion.

Statements very similar to this one can be found in advertisements for a diverse assortment of products including beer, beauty supplies, fitness clubs, and airlines.

If an advertiser wants to be sure that you supply the missing reasons and conclusion, the advertisement could be altered slightly so that it now reads:
More people have bought LaBaroness automobiles than any other American car. There
must be some very good reasons.

Notice that a second sentence was added, but no reasons were given. It is expected that the second sentence will cue listeners (or readers) to start supplying their own reasons.


Premises
The premises are the reasons that support a conclusion. They are the "why" part of an argument.

In everyday language, they can appear anywhere among a set of statements. Sometimes, the conclusion will be stated first followed by its premises. (Here is what I believe and the reasons for this belief are . . ..)

Other times the conclusion may be presented last or embedded in the middle of a paragraph or other text with premises both before and after it. Premises are not always easy to recognize. There are certain key words, called premise indicators or premise markers, that often signal that what comes after them is a premise. Although premise indicators aren't always followed by a premise, they often are, and for this reason, it is a good idea to check for these key words when identifying premises. These terms often indicate that what follows is a reason.

Premise Indicators
because
for
since (when it means because and not the passage of time)
if
given that (or being that)
as shown by
as indicated by
the reasons are
it may be inferred (or deduced) from
the evidence consists of
in the first place (suggests that a list of premises will follow)
secondly
seeing that
assuming that
it follows from
whereas

Here are some simple examples of the use of premise indicators.
You should graduate from college because you will earn more money with a
college degree.

The need for the United States to send troops to Central America is indicated
by the buildup of armed rebels in countries neighboring those with civil wars.

Seeing that the current policy of supplying organ transplants is benefiting the
rich, a new program is needed.

Premises can be "matters of fact" or "matters of opinion" or both. Consider, for
example, the following sentences:

All teenagers should be taught safe sex practices because of the risk of AIDS
and other sexually transmitted diseases. (The reason is a matter of fact.)

All teenagers should be taught how to knit because this will provide them with
an enjoyable hobby. (The reason is a matter of opinion.)

Conclusions
The conclusion is the purpose or the "what" of the argument. It is the belief or point of view that is supported or defended with the premises. Both the premises and the conclusion are important, and both are essential components of any argument.

It is usually easier to identify the conclusion of an argument than the other components.

For this reason, it is a good idea to start with the conclusion when you are analyzing arguments. There are conclusion indicators or conclusion markers that indicate that what follows is probably a conclusion. As with premise indicators, they do not guarantee that a conclusion follows them.

Conclusion Indicators
therefore
hence
so
thus
consequently
then
shows that (we can see that)
accordingly
it follows that
we may infer (conclude) (deduce) that
in summary
as a result
for all these reasons
it is clear that

Some simple examples of the use of conclusion indicators are:
Based on all of the reasons just stated, we can conclude that the flow of illegal drugs must be stopped.

In summary, postal rates must be increased because we can no longer afford to run the postal system with a deficit.

We have had very little rain this season. Consequently, water will have to be rationed.