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Arguments

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The formal structure of arguments

POOH spending time talking about life with his mother in his back yard

We've all heard about the young life of POOH, but not of his teen years. Each Spring brings pretty daffodils and another year to his life. With the passing years, POOH discusses more mature issues, such as when he can drive, whom he should date, and which college he'll attend.

Opinion versus argument

It doesn't take POOH long to discover that there is a real distinction between arguments and opinion. An argument is supported by reasoning through the processes we have previously discussed. Opinion is based more on feeling, not on the verity of evidence. Most people today let the media think for them and deal in a pseudo-reasoning process that is little more than opinion. They are deluded into thinking it has good authority, but when one examines the arguments, there really is nothing to these statements. What this leads to is the belief that as a collective whole, we believe certain ways about prominent issues. We discuss probable evidence later in the statistical tab. We hope our viewers will take this time to respond by voicing your opinion on this paragraph in our guestbook.

At any rate, as POOH reaches puberty and considers possibly dating Piglet's little sister, he becomes aware that this might be based more on feeling than on rationalizing whether she would make a fit wife.

Basic reasoning form of arguments

The basic form is as follows:

Since .... (premise 1)
and (premise 2 and blah, blah)
and (premise 3 and more blah, blah)
and (yet more premises, and more blah, blah)
Therefore .... (conclusion)

In argument world, these premises are called GROUNDS for the conclusion. As in geometry, prior supported conclusions can then become premises for other arguments. GROUNDS consist of OBSERVATIONS and TESTIMONY. In the beginning of the argument process, CONCLUSION yet to be proven or by support are called CLAIMS. Unlike the more simplistic categorical syllogisms presented above, the CONCLUSIONS can be rejected for a lack of support and yet the argument or statement can be totally true. This is why learning how to argue well is so vital to success in life.

We will present the basic form first before discussing moral arguments, because moral arguments deal in less quantifiable (more subjective) factual data, and more in the area of opinion (general consensus).

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