Argument
structure =df a collection of arguments arranged in such a way that (1)
conclusions of some of the arguments are premises for others, and (2) there is
an ultimate conclusion (not used as a premise for anything further in the
structure).
Premises which are used in the structure and are not (there) further justified
are called the ultimate premises of the argument structure.
All other statements involved are both intermediate premises and intermediate
conclusions of the argument structure.
Example:
(1) Either Abbott, Babbitt, or Cabot committed the murder.
(2) It wasn’t Abbott.
(3) It wasn’t Cabot.
(4) Babbitt committed the murder.
AN ARGUMENT STRUCTURE
Babbitt committed the murder
A, B It wasn’t
A It wasn’t C
or C
A was in
Chicago C had no
& murder was
in motive
Dallas
A appears in a
TV newscast in
a crowd in Chicago
at time of
murder
A claims Review of the tape
was in shows a person who
Chicago looks very like A
at the
time
C [Ultimate conclusion]
P11 P12 P13
P111 P121
P122 P131
.
. .
. .
. .
. . . .
Pu1 Pu2 .
. . . .
. .
.Pun
[Ultimate premises]