A premise is a statement that an argument claims will induce or justify a conclusion. In other words: a premise is an assumption that something is true. In logic, an argument requires a set of (at least) two declarative sentences (or "propositions") known as the premises along with another declarative sentence (or "proposition") known as the conclusion. This structure of two premises and one conclusion forms the basic argumentative structure. More complex arguments can use a series of rules to connect several premises to one conclusion, or to derive a number of conclusions from the original premises which then act as premises for additional conclusions. An example of this is the use of the rules of inference found within symbolic logic.
Aristotle held that any logical argument could be reduced to two premises and a conclusion. Premises are sometimes left unstated in which case they are called missing premises, for example:
- Socrates is mortal, since all men are mortal.
It is evident that a tacitly understood claim is that Socrates is a man. The fully expressed reasoning is thus:
- Since all men are mortal and Socrates is a man, Socrates is mortal.
In this example, the independent clauses preceding the comma (namely, "all men are mortal" and "Socrates is a man") are the premises, while "Socrates is mortal" is the conclusion.
The proof of a conclusion depends on both the truth of the premises and the validity of the argument.
Other articles related to "premise, premises":
... One form of the fallacy may be summarized as follows Premise 1 I know who X is ... Premise 2 I do not know who Y is ... The problem arises because Premise 1 and Premise 2 can be simultaneously true even when X and Y refer to the same person ...
... may well be a bird, but the conclusion does not follow from the premises ... Errors of this type occur because people reverse a premise ... In this case, "All birds have beaks" is converted to "All beaked animals are birds." The reversed premise is plausible because few people are aware of any instances of beaked creature besides birds—but this ...
... Theatre We Bombed in New Haven Ruth Ambassador Theatre 1965 The Premise The Premise Improvisational theatre with material by the performers ... Royale Theatre Tony Award nomination, Best Actress in a Play 1963 The Living Premise Obie Award, Distinguished Performance 1962 Tiger, Tiger Burning ...
... In evaluating world views, logicians do not concern themselves that the premises are correct or not, but whether the conclusions derive logically ... of the proposition, where the expectation (premise) was for a testable construct, any conclusion is by the precepts of falsificationism a non sequitur (logic) ... Circular reasoning differs from tautologies in that the premise is restated as the conclusion in an argument, instead of deriving the conclusion from the premise with ...
... Major premise All innate human desires have objects that exist ... The premise cannot be proved but is plausible ... Minor premise There is a desire for "we know not what" whose object cannot be identified ...
Famous quotes containing the word premise:
“We have to give ourselvesmen in particularpermission to really be with and get to know our children. The premise is that taking care of kids can be a pain in the ass, and it is frustrating and agonizing, but also gratifying and enjoyable. When a little kid says, I love you, Daddy, or cries and you comfort her or him, life becomes a richer experience.”
—Anonymous Father. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Womens Health Book Collective, ch. 3 (1978)