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A premise or premiss [a] is a proposition—a true or false declarative statement—used in an argument to prove the truth of another proposition called the conclusion. [1] Arguments consist of a set of premises and a conclusion. An argument is meaningful for its conclusion only when all of its premises are true. If one or more premises are ...
Premises are land and buildings together considered as a property. This usage arose from property owners finding the word in their title deeds , where it originally correctly meant "the aforementioned; what this document is about", from Latin prae-missus = "placed before".
Deductive reasoning is the psychological process of drawing deductive inferences.An inference is a set of premises together with a conclusion. This psychological process starts from the premises and reasons to a conclusion based on and supported by these premises.
A valid argument can also be used to derive a true conclusion from a false premise: All tall people are musicians. (Valid, False) John Lennon was tall. (Valid, True) Therefore, John Lennon was a musician. (Valid, True) In this case we have one false premise and one true premise where a true conclusion has been inferred.
The precise definition varies across fields of study. In classic philosophy, an axiom is a statement that is so evident or well-established, that it is accepted without controversy or question. [3] In modern logic, an axiom is a premise or starting point for reasoning. [4] In mathematics, an axiom may be a "logical axiom" or a "non-logical axiom".
Each of the premises has one term in common with the conclusion: in a major premise, this is the major term (i.e., the predicate of the conclusion); in a minor premise, this is the minor term (i.e., the subject of the conclusion). For example: Major premise: All humans are mortal. Minor premise: All Greeks are humans.
The form of a modus ponens argument is a mixed hypothetical syllogism, with two premises and a conclusion: If P, then Q. P. Therefore, Q. The first premise is a conditional ("if–then") claim, namely that P implies Q. The second premise is an assertion that P, the antecedent of the conditional claim, is the case.
An ecological fallacy is committed when one draws an inference from data based on the premise that qualities observed for groups necessarily hold for individuals; for example, "if countries with more Protestants tend to have higher suicide rates, then Protestants must be more likely to commit suicide".