[...]... edition readable, accurate, and practical I hope that you will work hard as well and, in doing so, realize for yourself the practical and personal value of logic and argument xiii This page intentionally left blank ❦ C H A P T E R O N E What Is an Argument? (And What Is Not?) THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT ARGUMENT It is about the nature of arguments—what arguments are and the different structures they have—and about... commands are arguments Arguments are offered to provide justifications; explanations 16 A Practical Study of Argument are offered to provide understanding Reasoning is used both in arguments and in explanations; the same indicator words may appear both in arguments and explanation Here are three imaginary dialogues that bring out the different purposes of argument, explanation, and description Suppose that... this way Some arguments contain no indicator words, and some indicator words appear where there is no argument Arguing and arguments are important as rational ways of approaching disputes and as careful critical methods of trying to arrive at the truth Speeches and texts that do not contain arguments can be categorized as nonarguments There are many types of nonargument—including descriptions, exclamations,... understand each other Some people say “He has not given us any argument at all” as a way of expressing the idea that someone has offered faulty arguments In effect, they are using the word argument to refer only to good arguments We do not follow that usage in this book In our sense of the word argument, a person has offered an argument if he or she has CHAPTER 1 • What Is an Argument? (And What Is... life among peasant people in a small Italian village called Montegrano, as it was in the early 1950s “In part the peasant’s melancholy is caused by worry Having no savings, he must always dread what is likely to happen What for others are misfortunes are for him calamities When their hog strangled on its tether, a laborer and his wife were desolate The woman tore her hair and beat her head against a wall... of explanations, it is not entirely accurate to think of explanations simply as being causal That is an oversimplification Nevertheless, a great many explanations are causal, and it may be helpful to think along these lines for a little while The explanations that are most easily confused with arguments tend to be the causal explanations, and for that reason, these sorts of explanation are our main concern... to take account of new developments here Some themes –x– Preface relatively unexplored in the field of argument analysis when this book was first written remain of great interest to theorists today The topics of conductive argument and analogical arguments are two examples This book combines a detailed nonformal treatment of good and bad arguments with a solid treatment of two central areas of formal... have seen, in an argument, premises are put forward as grounds to justify a conclusion as true In an explanation, on the other hand, claims are put forward in an attempt to render a further claim understandable—to offer an account as to why it is 14 A Practical Study of Argument true Explanations are offered on the assumption that the fact, situation, or event being explained exists, and the question... conclusion that marijuana should not be legalized follows Reasons are given for that conclusion WHAT IS AN ARGUMENT? An argument is a set of claims in which one or more of them—the premises—are put forward so as to offer reasons for another claim, the conclusion An argument may have several premises, or it may have only one In our example about legalizing marijuana there are two premises When we present arguments... that their beliefs are correct Consider the following short argument: Marijuana should not be legalized That’s because sustained use of marijuana worsens a person’s memory, and nothing that adversely affects one’s mental abilities should be legalized In this argument, a claim is made that marijuana should not be legalized; that is the conclusion of the argument And reasons for the claim are put forward; . there should be more goals for a nation than balancing the books by alluding to three historical accomplishments that nations have achieved. These are the Magna Carta, 2 A Practical Study of Argument the. America 12345678912111009 ❦ CONTENTS PREFACE x 1 What Is an Argument? (And What Is Not?) 1 What Is an Argument? 1 Argument and Opinion 3 Argument and Indicator Words 4 Where and How Do You Find Arguments? 6 Why Are Arguments Important?. of good and bad arguments with a solid treatment of two central areas of formal logic: categorical logic and prop- ositional logic. In addition to the interpretation and evaluation of arguments,