For the purposes of logic, an argument is not a quarrel or dispute, but an example of reasoning in which one or more statements are offered as support, justification, grounds, reasons, or evidence for another statement. The statement being supported is the conclusion of the argument, and the statements that support it are the premises of the argument. Studying argument is important because argument is the way we support our claims to truth. It is tempting to say that arguments establish the truth of their conclusions. But the study of logic forces us to qualify this statement.
Arguments establish the truth of conclusions relative to some premises and rules of inference.
Logicians do not care whether arguments succeed psychologically in changing people's minds or convincing them. It turns out that all these formulations are equivalent. If an argument is not valid, it is invalid . Note that only arguments can be valid or invalid, not statements. Similarly, only statements can be true or false, not arguments.