Lesson 2: Argument

Arguments are the basis of persuasive communication. They are combinations of statements made that are intended to change the minds of other people. In critical thinking, we have to determine the components of a good premises and conclusions, to produce a good argument.

In our previous class last week, I have mentioned that an argument consists of premises and a conclusion. All arguments have structure, which can be either deliberately designed or may be discovered through analysis. Needless to say, the stronger the premise may be, the stronger your argument will be, and the harder your argument will be refuted.

Premise

A premise is something that is put forward as a truth in your argument, as we can bluntly say as your ‘ammo’. It doesn’t necessarily be true, but as the saying goes, “If they can’t prove that you’re wrong, or you can prove that you are right – you will never be wrong”. Let’s look at these premise examples and evaluate the strength of each one.

This is a beautiful car.

According to the health poll done by the Ministry of Health recently, 73 Malaysians die from heart diseases this year alone.

The people of this town are angry.

The premise stating that this is a beautiful car is very subjective – thus it is highly refutable. I can always say that a Perodua Kenari or Proton Persona looks ugly. So, this kind of premise is very weak and easily countered, thus making it controversial, and a weak argument overall.

Vise versa, if you happen to be in wanting to attack another person’s argument, you can challenge the truth of their premises. If you are making an argument, you should be ready to defend any of your own premises.

The more complex the premise, the more opportunity there is to challenge it. So, if you expect challenge, keep your premises both short and non-controversial. Not only that, make sure to put facts and figures as a ‘power up’ to your premises. As premises are the building blocks of the argument, there may well be two or more premises in any argument.

A false premise will or may lead to a faulty conclusion, and ultimately a faulty argument altogether.

For an example let’s look at this:

Dengue fever is caused by drinking stale milk. (False premise I)

Dengue fever is contagious. (Correct premise II)

A faulty conclusion that may happen = ‘We must drink fresh milk to prevent dengue fever’

Conclusion (claim)

The conclusion is the statement with which you want the other person to agree. A conclusion is a statement derived from the reasoning that you have given. It is drawn from the premises of the argument, of which there may be two or more.

Most of the people that died from dengue fever came from squat houses. (Premise I)

Squat houses are dirty, due to lack of proper drainage system (Premise II)

Conclusion possibility (it will be related to our intention in the first place, here are examples) =

‘People should not live in squat houses.’ Or

‘If we destroy the squat houses, we shall destroy dengue fever.’

However, an argument will be faulty if there are errors in your premise or your conclusion. Based on the premise stated above, a conclusion that reads ‘dengue fever is contagious’ or ‘there are no dengue cases in condominiums’ are faulty, thus resulting in a faulty argument.

A useful way of spotting a conclusion is that may well be a statement of necessity, saying what must or should happen. It can or may be framed to persuade the other person to do something or make some decision.

ARGUMENT STRUCTURE

Structure of an argument = Premises (2 or more) + Conclusion = Argument

A complex argument should compiles series of subconclusion to make a bigger premise

Premises + Premises = subconclusion (PREMISE)

Premises + Premises = subconclusion (PREMISE)

These two subconclusion will be analyzed, which leads to form a proper conclusion.