| argument | a set of statements in which one or more of the statements attempt to provide reasons or evidence for the truth of another statement
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| cogent argument | a strong argument that has true premises
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| conclusion | the statement in an argument that the premises are claimed to support or imply
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| conclusion indicators | terms that usually indicate that a conclusion will follow
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| deductive argument | an argument in which it is claimed that the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises
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| inductive argument | an argument in which it is claimed that the premises make the conclusion highly probable
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| inference to the best explanation | a form of reasoning that tries to show that a particular theory is superior to all its competitors and that it is therefore the one most likely to be true; sometimes called abduction
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| invalid argument | an argument in which the truth of the conclusion fails to logically follow from the premises
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| logic | the study of methods for evaluating arguments and reasoning
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| logical inconsistency | two assertions that could not both be true under any possible circumstances
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| premise | a statement in an argument that serves to provide evidence for the truth of a claim
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| premise indicators | terms that usually indicate that a premise will follow
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| self-referential inconsistency | an assumption that implies that it itself cannot be true, cannot be known to be true, or should not be believed
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| skepticism | the belief that we cannot have knowledge because there is no such thing as objective truth
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| Sophists | traveling educators during Socrates’ day who would offer practical courses for a fee and who taught the doctrine of skepticism
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| sound argument | a valid argument with true premises
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| strong argument | an inductive argument in which true premises would make the conclusion highly probable
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| valid argument | an argument in which it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false
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2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education