Identifying Non-arguments

One way to facilitate the recognition of arguments is to distinguish them from nonarguments. This is not easy especially when a passage contains no argument indicators. For such a passage could simply be a series of unsupported assertions rather than an argument. The following are typical kinds of nonarguments:

Warnings – discourses aimed at modifying someone’s behavior. If no evidence or reason is given to prove that someone should do something or avoid doing something then there is no argument.

Let everyone know that no mercy shall befall any violator of the law in this country.

Statements of belief or opinion – expressions of what someone happens to believe or think at a certain time. When no evidence or reason is given to prove that what the author thinks is true is no argument.

I think a nation such as ours, with its high moral traditions and commitments, has a further responsibility to know how we became drawn into this conflict, and to learn the lessons it has to teach us for the future. [Alfred Hassler, Saigon]

Description – consists of one or more statements that, taken together, cause a certain picture to appear in the mind of the reader.

At Rajghat, a few hundred feet from the river, a fresh pyre had been built of stone, brick and earth. It was eight feet square and about two feet high. Long, thin sandalwood logs sprinkled with incense were stacked on it. Mahatma Gandhi’s body was lay on the pyre with his head to the north. In that position Buddha had met his end. [Louis Fisher, Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World]

Report – a group of statements that conveys information about some situation or event.

“56,000 curies of radioactive tritium were accidentally released from the Savanna River nuclear weapons plant in South Carolina. A spokesman for the plant said that the radiation posed ‘no health hazard to the public’ since it was ‘equivalent to the amount that would be received on a 30-minute jet flight at 36,000 feet’”.

Expository passage – It often happens that an author will begin a paragraph with a topic sentence and then go on develop it. The author’s aim is not to prove the topic sentence but merely to expand or develop it.

There is a stylized relation of artist to mass audience in the sports, especially in baseball. Each player develops a style of his own – the swagger as he steps to the plate, the unique windup a pitcher has, the clean-swinging and hard-driving hits, the precision quickness and grace of infield and outfield, the sense of surplus power behind whatever is done.

The aim of this of this passage is not so much to prove that the first statement is true as it is to flesh out the notion of a stylized relation to a mass audience.

Illustration – Consists of a statement about a certain subject combined with a reference to one or more specific instances intended to exemplify that statement. Illustrations are often confused with arguments because many of them contain indicator words.

Chemical elements, as well as compounds, can be represented by molecular formulas. Thus, oxygen is represented by “O2”, sodium chloride by “NaCl”, and sulfuric acid as “H2SO4”.

Many scientists turn to music for rest and relaxation. Thus Albert Einstein played the violin.

The above passages are not arguments because there is no claim that anything follows from evidence. The purpose of the word “thus” is not to indicate that something is being proved but merely to show how something is done.

Comparison – compound statements that point out a similarity between two events or instances.

Just as normal men would die without water, so Jack would die without wine.

Conditional – an “if… then…” statement. Every conditional statement is made up of two component statements. The statement immediately following the “if” is called the antecedent and the other following the “then” is called the consequent.

Conditional statements are not arguments for the following reason: in an argument the premises are asserted to be true, and the conclusion, because it is claimed to follow from the premises, is also asserted to be true. In a conditional statement, on the other hand, neither the antecedent nor the consequent is asserted as true. What is asserted is that if the antecedent is true, then the consequent is true. But while no single conditional statement is an argument, a conditional statement may serve as either the premise or the conclusion of an argument.

If cigarette companies publish warning labels, then smokers assume the risk of smoking.

Cigarette companies do publish warning labels.

Therefore, smokers assume the risk of smoking.

Conditional statements are very important in logic because they are use to express the relationship between necessary and sufficient conditions. An event A is said to be sufficient condition for an event B whenever the occurrence of A is all that is required for the occurrence of B. A sufficient condition for increasing one’s heart rate is running 1,000 yards.

On the other hand, an event B is said to be a necessary condition for an event A whenever A cannot occur without the occurrence of B. A necessary condition for watching television is opening your eyes.

Temporal sequence – besides its logical sense, the premise indicator since has a temporal meaning which is sometimes mistakenly interpreted as an argument but is really a way of saying simply that in the period of time following an event several others subsequently happened.

Since Marilyn Monroe died, men have walked the moon.

Recommendation – Although it uses the term therefore and similar terms, a recommendation is not an argument. It does not establish a claim but only cites basis for the action prescribed.

I have no misgivings regarding the professional competence and the moral integrity of the applicant. I therefore recommend him for your favorable consideration.

Explanations – Every explanations is composed of two distinct components: the explanandum and the explanans. The former is the statement that describes the event or phenomenon to be explained, while the latter is the state or group of statements that purports to do the explaining. Explanations are sometimes mistaken for arguments because they often contain the indicator word because. Yet explanations are not arguments for the following reasons; in an explanation, the explanans is intended to show why something is the case, whereas in an argument the premise are intended to prove that something is the case

The Challenger spacecraft exploded after liftoff because an O-ring failed in one of the booster rockets.

The sky appears blue from the earth’s surface because light rays from the sun are scattered by particles in the atmosphere.

Cows can digest grass, human cannot, because their digestive systems contain enzymes not found in humans.

There a number of clues to help whether an argument or an explanation is being offered.

1.) The conclusion of an argument is generally something regarded by the arguers in need of support while the premises are regarded as already will known. In an explanation, on the other hand, the fact being explained is generally regarded as already well established, while the explanatory factors cited are often highly speculative.


2.) When because or similar terms are used an explanation indicators, they can be replaced without change of senses with as a result of or due to.


3.) When modified by adverbs like definitely, probably, and possibly or by conjunctions like “either-or” or “not-but” because can only be interpreted as an explanation indicator.

The missing plane crashed, because an instrument malfunctioned.

The missing plane crushed because the wreckage was found.