A premise may be either the major or the minor proposition of a syllogism —an argument in which two premises are made and a logical conclusion is drawn from them—in a deductive argument.
Merriam-Webster gives this example of a major and minor premise and conclusion :. The term premise comes from medieval Latin, meaning "things mentioned before.
The premise—the thing or things that came before—lead or fail to lead to a logical resolution in an argument or story. To understand what a premise is in philosophy, it helps to understand how the field defines an argument, says Joshua May , an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. In philosophy, an argument is not concerned with disputes among people; it is a set of propositions that contain premises offered to support a conclusion, he says, adding:.
May offers this example of a major and minor premise, as well as a conclusion, that echoes the example from Merriam-Webster:. May notes that the validity of an argument in philosophy and in general depends on the accuracy and truth of the premise or premises.
For example, May gives this example of a bad or inaccurate premise:. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says that an argument can be valid if it follows logically from its premises, but the conclusion can still be wrong if the premises are incorrect:.
In philosophy, then, the process of creating premises and carrying them through to a conclusion involves logic and deductive reasoning. Other areas provide a similar, but slightly different, take when defining and explaining premises.
For nonfiction writing, the term premise carries largely the same definition as in philosophy. Purdue OWL notes that a premise or premises are integral parts of constructing an argument. Indeed, says the language website operated by Purdue University, the very definition of an argument is that it is an "assertion of a conclusion based on logical premises. Nonfiction writing uses the same terminology as in philosophy, such as syllogism , which Purdue OWL describes as the "simplest sequence of logical premises and conclusions.
Nonfiction writers use a premise or premises as the backbone of a piece such as an editorial, opinion article, or even a letter to the editor of a newspaper. Premises are also useful for developing and writing an outline for a debate. Preventive Medicine 55 , Judging from what we know about credible sources, we can feel confident using the following the following argument in our own research even though it is based upon inductive premises.
Claim: In , the influenza vaccination rate among adults was not sufficient for herd immunity. The source is highly credible in part because it is written by an expert for experts.
That fact may make a source a challenging read for ordinary readers. It is a medical study based on sufficient , representative , and relevant data that has been carefully analyzed by someone highly qualified in the field.
Depending on the nature of an assignment and whether a course is for majors or non-majors, you may be allowed to use some sources that report on studies rather than the original studies themselves. However, you should consult the primary sources whenever possible. For more information on the types of sources, review What is a primary source?
An unstated or suppressed premise is assumed rather than voiced outright but is nevertheless needed for an argument to work. Consider this highly unscientific poll conducted by a TV news station. Is she in fact out of touch at all? This is actually a type of logical fallacy, begging the question, which will be covered in a later section.
In fact, on more complex or serious issues it is often things people take for granted that may actually deserve the most critical scrutiny. So the first order of business in analyzing an argument is to recognize what the main claim is—the conclusion—and what other claims are being used to support it—the premises, which is much easier to do when the arguer is explicit about the steps in the argument.
The arguer can make the steps clear by using premise and conclusion indicator terms as signposts. Below is a list of such terms. Words that introduce or signal argument premises include it follows that , implies that, as a result , because non-causal meaning , since, for the reason that , for, and.
Using the indicator terms is particularly helpful because a conclusion may be stated first, last, or anywhere in between. People do all three when they write or talk in real life, so we cannot tell whether a statement is a conclusion simply by where it is positioned in the argument. First, the process helps you clearly see just what the other person is saying. It helps you identify the logical structure of the argument, which is necessary if you are to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the argument in order to know whether or not to accept it.
There can be only one conclusion in a single argument. The foolproof way to do this is to ask yourself what the author of the argument is trying to get you to believe. The answer to this question is the conclusion. You should also study very carefully the lists of premise and conclusion indicator words on page 3 in the text. There will not always be indicator words, though more often than not there are. You should note as well that the conclusion can often be identified as the statement directly before a premise indicator.
Remember that these are general rules only. Think of indicator words as "red flags. Then do exercises 1. If you need more practice, feel free to do more. It isn't cold premise 3. Therefore, it doesn't snow sub-conclusion 4. Either it snows, or Bob is out playing football premise 5. Hence, Bob is out playing football final conclusion. Unstated premises Often arguments have unstated premise s , that is, premise s that need to be added for the premises to support the conclusion.
Example: 1. Hence, Jim is at home. Deductive arguments: The support the premises provide to the conclusion in a deductive argument is an all or nothing affair. A valid deductive argument is an argument such that it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false, i. If it snows, then it's cold 2. It snows 3.
Hence, it's cold. NOTE: An argument can be valid even if its premises and conclusion are false. Informal testing for deductive validity: If you can describe circumstances, even fictional ones, in which the premises are true and the conclusion false, then the argument is invalid.
In other words, if you can consistently deny the conclusion while affirming the premises, the argument is invalid. Brown confessed to the murder. While 4 is most likely true if the premises are true, the argument is nevertheless not valid. In fact, imagine the following. The witnesses have been bought off by George with the promise of free trips to Florida.
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