Logic 101

Arguments cannot consist of solitary statements

Rather, arguments contain at least two claims

Arguments, therefore, are never true and never false

Say they're either and you misconstrue their aims

Arguments that aim at guaranteeing their conclusions

Are deductive (whether they succeed or not)

When instead the aim is less than full support for something

An inductive argument is what you've got

Arguments are valid or invalid if deductive

If inductive they can range from weak to strong

Statements on the other hand are either true or false

Call them valid or invalid and you're wrong

Premises are statements offered to support conclusions

The conclusion statement makes the central claim

Fallacies are what you have when no support connects them

In some forms so common that each has a name

Premises alone, therefore, will never be fallacious

For conclusions this appraisal's also out

What's important is the sort of link between these statements

In an argument that's what it's all about

James A. Woodbridge
Copyright © 1997