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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 ...
Every argument's conclusion is a premise of other arguments. The word constituent may be used for either a premise or conclusion. In the context of this article and in most classical contexts, all candidates for consideration as argument constituents fall under the category of truth-bearer : propositions, statements, sentences, judgments, etc.
Another feature of an argument based on false premises that can bedevil critics, is that its conclusion can in fact be true. Consider the above example again. It may well be that it has recently rained and that the streets are wet. This does nothing to prove the first premise, but can make its claims more difficult to refute.
Premises and conclusions are the basic parts of inferences or arguments and therefore play a central role in logic. In the case of a valid inference or a correct argument, the conclusion follows from the premises, or in other words, the premises support the conclusion. [41]
The missing premise is: Iron is a metal. On the other hand, a seemingly valid argument may be found to lack a premise—a "hidden assumption"—which, if highlighted, can show a fault in reasoning. Example: A witness reasoned: Nobody came out the front door except the milkman; therefore the murderer must have left by the back door.
Premise is a claim that is a reason for, or an objection against, some other claim as part of an argument. Premise (from the Latin praemissa [propositio], meaning "placed in front") may also refer to: Premises, land and buildings together considered as a property; Premise (narrative), the situational logic driving the plot in plays
In the use-mention distinction, "mention" is signified by the use of quotation marks or other indicators that the words are subjects of discussion rather than tools for communication. For example, in the sentence "The word 'books' consists of five letters," "books" is mentioned, not used. mere possibilia
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".