ABSTRACT

One method for making a case is to persuade others that its claim is rational because it is sound. A claim is a challengeable assertion; for instance, that ‘nuclear power stations are dangerous’. An argument is a set of at least two claims which are connected in a precise way. It is not a mere list of assertions. The connection, called an inference, involves a movement from one or more claims presented as reasons, R, to the claim argued for and designated the conclusion, C. For example, it is said that ‘nuclear power stations are dangerous because they discharge radiation into the environment’. Two different claims are made in this assertion. First, that ‘nuclear power stations are dangerous’ and second, that ‘nuclear power stations discharge radiation into the environment’. Since the second is offered as a reason for the first, the dual claim is an argument.