Arguing in Ethics and Moral Reasoning 

^^ARGUMENTS^^

  • A group of statements, one or more of which (the premises) are claimed to provide support for, or reasons to believe, one of the others (the conclusion). There is no argument if there is no claim.
    • Statement vs. Sentence
    • Not all sentences are statements
    • A Statement is a sentence that can either be true or false
      • An argument is a group of these statements
  • Arguments have a Premise and Conclusion + a Claim
  • __Premise indicators__
    • “Since, as indicated by, because, for, in that, owing to, may be inferred from, given that, seeing that, for the reason that, in as much as…”
    • Upon seeing this indicators, ask if it is a premise, or a presupposition with which a claim is being made
  • __Conclusion Indicators__
    • “Therefore, wherefore, thus, consequently, we may infer, accordingly, we may conclude, it must be that, for this reason, so, entails that, hence, it follows that, implies that, as a result…”
    • These indicators show that an inference is being made

%%ARGUMENTS VS NON ARGUMENTS%%

  • __Argument__
    • Arguments are composed of a Premise (an Accepted Fact) and a Claim that must be proven to arrive at a Conclusion
    • Arguments are not proven yet, you have to argue to prove them
    • Formula: Premise + Claim = Conclusion
  • __Simple non-inferential passages__
    • Unproblematic passages that lack a claim that anything is being proven
    • Contain statements that could be premises or conclusions (or both)
    • But they are missing a CLAIM that any potential premise supports a conclusion or that any potential conclusion is supported by premises
    • Thus, simple non-inferential passages are NOT arguments
    • Examples: Warnings, pieces of advice, statements of belief or opinion, loosely associated statements, reports, expository passages, illustrations, explanations
  • __Explanation__
    • An established fact that does not need proving
    • Explanations are NOT arguments
    • If it's merely an explanation, there is no argument about the fact, precisely because it's already established; there is nothing to prove
      • The point of an explanation is merely to illuminate on the fact it's already proven

%%TYPES OF ARGUMENTS%%

  • __Deductive Argument__
    • An argument incorporating the claim that it is IMPOSSIBLE for the conclusion to be false given that the premises are true.
    • Involves necessary reasoning.
    • Usually used in math and formal logic
    • Example: The meerkat is a member of the mongoose family. All members of the mongoose family are carnivores. Therefore, it necessarily follows that the meerkat is a carnivore.
    • The meerkat is WITHIN the mongoose family, and the mongoose family is WITHIN the group of carnivores. It necessarily follows that the meerkat is a carnivore.
    • Follows a Top-Down Format
    • From a general case, you draw a subset
    • SOUND ARGUMENT = Valid Argument + All True Premises
  • __Inductive Argument__
    • An argument incorporating the claim that it is IMPROBABLE that the conclusion be false given that the premises are true
    • Involved probabilistic reasoning.
    • Usually used in Law, court rooms.
    • Example: The meerkat is closely related to the suricat. The suricat thrives on beetle larvae. Therefore, probably, the meerkat thrives on beetle larvae.
    • Uses PROBABILISTIC reasoning, it would only PROBABLY be true
    • Follows a Bottom-Up Format
    • From representative examples, you draw a conclusion
    • COGENT ARGUMENT = Strong Argument + All True Premises