It will sometimes be difficult to tell when we are being given an argument and when we are not. Or we can concentrate on the literary merit of the argument - focusing on the novelty or creativity of the argument, among other things. Very rarely does the media ever focus on the rational strength of the argument. It is this aspect of the evaluation of arguments which we will focus on in this class. Arguments are a part of everyday discourse, directed to an end.
Arguments consist of at least one main conclusion which is supported by one or more premises.
The first step of evaluating arguments is to identify the Premises and the Conclusion. Of all the roles statements play in an argument, the conclusion should be the easiest to pick out of an argument, since there will usually be less of them than there are premises. Most of the arguments we deal with will have only one. Most of the time the conclusion will appear near the end of the argument, sometimes at the front. Problems in reconstructing the argument occur when the conclusion is not clearly stated, or the indicators are misplaced - for example when a person indicates that a premise is the conclusion, or vice versa.