In and philosophy, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, by giving reasons or evidence for accepting a particular conclusion. The general structure of an argument in a natural language is that of premises (typically in the form of propositions, statements or sentences) in support of a claim: the conclusion. Many arguments can also be formulated in a formal language. An argument in a formal language shows the logical form of the natural language arguments obtained by its interpretations.*
In a typical deductive argument, the premises are meant to provide a guarantee of the truth of the conclusion, while in an inductive argument, they are thought to provide reasons supporting the conclusion's probable truth. The standards for evaluating other kinds of arguments may rest on different or additional criteria than truth, however, such as the persuasiveness of so-called "indispensability claims" in transcendental arguments or even the disclosure of new possibilities for thinking and acting.
The criteria used in evaluating arguments and their forms of reasoning are studied in logic. Ways of formulating arguments effectively are studied in rhetoric (see also: Argumentation theory).
Read more about Argument: Formal and Informal Arguments, Standard Argument Types, Deductive Arguments, Inductive Arguments, Defeasible Arguments, Argument By Analogy, Transitional Arguments, Other Kinds of Arguments, Explanations and Arguments, Fallacies and Nonarguments
Other articles related to "argument, arguments":
... jurisdiction is mandatory, it is not required to hear oral argument ... of law or the justices desire clarification, oral argument is called ... Each attorney in oral argument is given 20 minutes to present its side, except for capital cases, in which each side is given 30 minutes ...
... A fallacy is an invalid argument that appears valid, or a valid argument with disguised assumptions ... typically separate the premises from the conclusion of an argument, but this is not necessarily so ... Socrates is a man, all men are mortal therefore Socrates is mortal is clearly an argument (a valid one at that), because it is clear it is asserted that Socrates is mortal follows from the preceding statements ...
... In computer programming, a default argument is an argument to a function that a programmer is not required to specify ... languages, functions may take one or more arguments ... Usually, each argument must be specified in full (this is the case in the C programming language) ...
... Climbing is an adventure sport that is inherently risky ... A climber should understand and accept this risk ...
... The first argument arg0 should be the name of the executable file ... Usually it is the same value as the path argument ... Some programs may incorrectly rely on this argument providing the location of the executable, but there is no guarantee of this nor is it standardized across platforms ...
Famous quotes containing the word argument:
“There is no good in arguing with the inevitable. The only argument available with an east wind is to put on your overcoat.”
—James Russell Lowell (1819–1891)
“Coming out, all the way out, is offered more and more as the political solution to our oppression. The argument goes that, if people could see just how many of us there are, some in very important places, the negative stereotype would vanish overnight. ...It is far more realistic to suppose that, if the tenth of the population that is gay became visible tomorrow, the panic of the majority of people would inspire repressive legislation of a sort that would shock even the pessimists among us.”
—Jane Rule (b. 1931)
“Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)