Argument (philosophy)

An argument, in logic and philosophy, may be defined in its most ordinary sense as a set of statements, one member of which is the conclusion, the other members being premises (or premisses). The premises are reasons intended to show that the conclusion is, or is probably, true.

When an argument is presented to show that its conclusion is true (not just probably true), the argument is called deductive. When an argument is presented to show that its conclusion is probably true, the argument is called inductive.