Two Parts

Presenting Arguments in Standard Form

One of the chief goals of a logic class is to evaluate the quality of reasoning. Since we strive (or ought to

strive) to base our beliefs and actions on high-quality reasoning, we must first learn how to discern the

difference between good reasoning and bad reasoning.

We express reasoning in the form of arguments. An argument is a series of statements, called premises,

that are given in support of the truth of another statement, called the conclusion. Here is an example,

expressed in standard form (with the premises listed above the conclusion):

P1: Being a surgeon would pay better but would allow less time with my family.

P2: Being a family practice doctor would fulfill me more at a personal level.

P3: Being fulfilled personally and spending more time with my family are higher priorities to me

than making more money.

C: Therefore, I will choose to go into family practice.

Putting arguments into this form promotes clarity and facilitates evaluation. It also is important because of

what it leaves out: We are not distracted by emotion, relationships, etc. We just have the pure argument,

making it much easier to evaluate its quality objectively.