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MIXORA CONCEPT

Premise

A statement offered as a reason for accepting a conclusion.

thoughtStrong evidence
IN PLAIN LANGUAGE

An argument can have true premises and still fail if its conclusion does not follow. It can also be valid while resting on false premises.

What “Strong evidence” means

The core definition or effect is well established across authoritative standards, foundational research or a broad research literature. The label does not make every practical prediction certain.

Marker-board illustration created specifically to explain Premise: A statement offered as a reason for accepting a conclusion.VISUAL EXPLANATION · MARKER BOARD
A statement offered as a reason for accepting a conclusion.
EXAMPLE

In ‘All metals conduct; copper is a metal; therefore copper conducts,’ the first two statements are premises.

COMMON CONFUSION

Calling a statement a premise does not certify that it is true.

ASK YOURSELF

Would the conclusion lose support if this premise were false?

RELATED CONCEPTS
thoughtArgument

A set of claims in which one or more premises are offered in support of a conclusion.

→thoughtConclusion

The claim an argument asks you to accept on the basis of its premises.

→thoughtValidity

For a deductive argument, the property that true premises could not occur together with a false conclusion.

→thought × bridgeEvidence

Information that raises, lowers or otherwise constrains rational confidence in a claim.

→

SOURCES & TRUST

References

Last reviewed

  1. 01
    Informal Logic

    Leo Groarke · Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Evaluation of real-world arguments, premise acceptability and inference quality.
    Reference source
What the source labels mean
Primary source
Original work, experiment, standard or historical text.
Academic source
Scholarly research or review published for an academic audience.
Reference source
An expert standard, encyclopedia or institutional explanation that summarizes a field.
General reference
A practical specialist resource useful for application, but not treated as decisive research by itself.