Chapter 1 THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF REASONING 2 
Chapter 1
THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF REASONING
ARGUMENTS
Reasoning is the activity of making inferences. This is when you attempt to justify or prove one statement by appealing to another statement/s. To prove or justify a statement means to give a good reason for believing it.1 The statement that you are trying to justify is called the conclusion whereas the justifying statements are called premises. All reasoning has a conclusion (implied or explicit) and at least one (and typically more than one) premise. Logicians also refer to inferences as (logical) arguments.
Statements that do not form arguments:
Arguments need to be distinguished from statements. While arguments contain statements, not every statement, or set of statements, constitutes an argument. Again, in order to have an argument one must be attempting to prove or justify one statement (the conclusion) by using other statements (the premises).
Mere Opinions:
Consider the following statements asserted by actor comedian Charlie Chaplin:
I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.
Here Chaplin is not attempting to prove or justify anything. Rather, he is stating his low opinion of politicians without attempting to justify it. Without any attempt to justify his opinion by adding premises, there is no argument, just opinion. While it is commonly
1
Alternatively, to prove or justify a statement might be defined in terms of providing adequate evidence for believing a statement.
1
said that one opinion is just as good as the next, this is not strictly speaking true.
Opinions that are justified are better than ones that are not justified.
Expressions of desire:
Like mere opinions, statements expressing one’s desires or wishes do not constitute arguments. For example, consider black activist Rosa Park’s wish for herself:
I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free, and wanted other people to be also free.
While
THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF REASONING
ARGUMENTS
Reasoning is the activity of making inferences. This is when you attempt to justify or prove one statement by appealing to another statement/s. To prove or justify a statement means to give a good reason for believing it.1 The statement that you are trying to justify is called the conclusion whereas the justifying statements are called premises. All reasoning has a conclusion (implied or explicit) and at least one (and typically more than one) premise. Logicians also refer to inferences as (logical) arguments.
Statements that do not form arguments:
Arguments need to be distinguished from statements. While arguments contain statements, not every statement, or set of statements, constitutes an argument. Again, in order to have an argument one must be attempting to prove or justify one statement (the conclusion) by using other statements (the premises).
Mere Opinions:
Consider the following statements asserted by actor comedian Charlie Chaplin:
I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.
Here Chaplin is not attempting to prove or justify anything. Rather, he is stating his low opinion of politicians without attempting to justify it. Without any attempt to justify his opinion by adding premises, there is no argument, just opinion. While it is commonly
1
Alternatively, to prove or justify a statement might be defined in terms of providing adequate evidence for believing a statement.
1
said that one opinion is just as good as the next, this is not strictly speaking true.
Opinions that are justified are better than ones that are not justified.
Expressions of desire:
Like mere opinions, statements expressing one’s desires or wishes do not constitute arguments. For example, consider black activist Rosa Park’s wish for herself:
I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free, and wanted other people to be also free.
While