IDENTIFYING AND ANALYZING ARGUMENTS

An arguments is one or more premises put forth to prove a conclusion. The conclusion is the point of the argument, that which it seeks it prove. The premises provide the proof in the form of reasons or evidence for the truth of the conclusion. The goal of the argument is to transfer the certainty of the premises to the conclusion through logical inference. Because of this, an argument is only as good as its premises. If the premises are known to be true and the logic of the argument is good, then the conclusion is known to be true as well.

Identifying Arguments

The first question to ask in analyzing an argument is whether you are really dealing with an argument. Arguments are an attempt at persuasion. They are an attempt to convince you of something or to get you to believe something. This makes them different from information, which you might find in a news report from the Associated Press or Reuters. These reports just tell you what happened. They may report about arguments, say, of politicians, and often quote a variety of sources in covering a controversial issue without taking a stand. Sometimes reporting reflects a subconscious or even intentional bias on the part of the reporter, but the ideal expressed in journalistic codes of integrity, is to provide an objective picture. Arguments are reserved for the opinion page of newspapers or commentary shows on cable news. Hannity and Rachel Maddow are trying to convince you to believe certain things. Straight news reporting is not (or at least it's not supposed to).

Similarly, an explanation is not an argument. An explanation attempts to show why something is the way it is, not that it is a certain way. For example, you might read in a science textbook that the explanation for movement of ocean tides involves the gravitational attraction of the moon. The textbook is not trying to convince you that this is the reason why tidal action occurs as it does; it is simply telling you how and why it occurs.

A story is not an argument. Often people will tell stories with no "moral" or point to them, that is, with no conclusion. If I tell you a story about trying to convince my twin brother's lab partner that I was not him in college or about having him masquerade as me with my new girlfriend as a prank, I'm not trying to convince you of the facts of these stories or trying to get you to draw any conclusion about twins or mistaken identity or pranks; I'm just sharing some humorous anecdotes. However, sometimes a story can contain an implied or implicit argument. Fables, parables or polemical fiction and media often contain arguments.

A claim is not an argument. If I make a claim without any supporting reasons or evidence, I haven't made an argument. If I say "You should always believe women who make claims of sexual assault" without providing any evidence that you should do this, then I haven't made an argument. That sentence is a claim, but it's not a conclusion. By definition, conclusions must be supported by one or more premises.

Finally, it is important to note that bad arguments are still arguments. In order to count as an argument, there only has to be a conclusion with one premise put forward to support it. The conclusion could be totally absurd and the premise may be known to be false or true but completely irrelevant.  It's still an argument.

Analyzing Arguments

To analyze any argument, first look for the conclusion. Ask yourself "What's the point of this series of statements? What is the person trying to convince me of? Often the conclusion will come at the end of the series of statements, though sometimes it comes at the beginning or some place in the middle. It is sometimes preceded by words like "so," "therefore," "thus," "in summary," or sometimes even "in conclusion." Once you have identified the conclusion, look at the premises. Premises are often preceded by words like "because," "for" or even "for the reason that." Next, ask yourself, "Are the premises believable?" Are they known with a high degree of certainty? Next ask yourself, "If these premises are true, do they make the conclusion likely to be true, that is, do they support the conclusion? I they offer enough support that a reasonable person would believe the conclusion on the basis of the premises? If so, then the argument is good. If the premises are questionable or, if true, don't sufficiently support the truth of the conclusion, then the argument is weak or bad.