The argument is the basic unit of philosophical discourse. The premise of an argument is intended to lend credence to the argument's conclusion.
Most arguments have more than one premise.
Arguments are audience-specific since they offer premises that specific audiences are more likely to accept as evidence for a conclusion that is more controversial or interesting than the premises. The discipline of logic, a traditional branch of philosophy, is the study of the abstract forms of good arguments, i.e., arguments the premises of which, were they true, really would lend the support of their truth to their conclusions. Logicians aim to develop formal criteria to distinguish between arguments that are good in this way and arguments that are not. For example, in Book I of the Republic , Thrasymachus agrees to the truth of certain propositions that Socrates then employs as premises to the conclusion that justice is the advantage of the weaker, exactly the contrary of what Thrasymachus first asserts. Justice is the advantage of the stronger .