Philosophy EthicsWhat Makes an Argument: Reasons, Not Just Opinions
Sage the owl perches on a wooden stool beside a chalkboard, drawing a sturdy bridge held up by labeled support beams in a cozy lamplit study
- Define an argument as one or more premises offered to support a conclusion.
- Distinguish an argument from a bare opinion that gives no supporting reasons.
- Identify the premises and the conclusion within a short everyday example.
- Explain why a statement without supporting reasons is not yet an argument.
Key terms
- argument
- a claim supported by one or more reasons, not just a bare statement
- opinion
- a claim put forward on its own with no supporting reasons underneath it
- premise
- a reason offered to hold up a conclusion, like a support beam under a bridge
- conclusion
- the claim that the premises are meant to support and lead you to accept
Opinion Versus Argument
An opinion is just a claim set out on its own, like 'reading at night is great.' It may even be true, but it gives you no reason to agree. An argument adds the missing piece: the reasons that hold the claim up. Picture a bridge, where the conclusion is the roadway you want people to cross and the premises are the support beams beneath it. Remove the beams and the roadway falls into the river. The presence or absence of those supporting reasons is exactly what separates an argument from a mere opinion.
Finding Premises and Conclusion
To analyze any short passage, ask a single question: what is the conclusion, and what reasons are given for it? Signal words like because, since, and therefore often flag where reasons or conclusions appear, so they are useful clues. But arguments can also work without any signal words when the reasoning is clear from context, so their absence does not prove there is no argument. What matters is whether reasons are actually offered to support a claim, not whether a particular keyword shows up.
Worked examples
Pick out the premises and conclusion in a short passage.
- Read the passage: 'Plants need light to grow. This corner gets no light. So a plant will not grow well here.'
- Ask what the speaker wants you to accept: 'a plant will not grow well here.'
- Mark that as the conclusion, since the word 'so' signals it follows from what came before.
- Identify the remaining statements as premises that support that conclusion.
Answer: The conclusion is 'a plant will not grow well here,' supported by the two premises about plants needing light and the corner having none — together they form an argument, not just an opinion.
Activity
Sort each card into either the Premise pile or the Conclusion pile for one argument about walking the dog
Practice
Decide whether 'Summer is the best season' is an argument or just an opinion, and why.
Find the conclusion in 'We should sleep early because tired minds make more mistakes.'
Common mistakes to avoid
- Any strong claim is an argumentA claim becomes an argument only when reasons are offered to support it; a bare claim is just an opinion.
- An argument must contain words like 'so' or 'because'Signal words are helpful clues, but reasoning can be expressed clearly without any particular keyword.
Check your understanding
Which statement is an ARGUMENT rather than just an opinion?
In the argument 'Plants need light to grow, this corner gets no light, so a plant will not grow well here,' which part is the conclusion?
A classmate says 'Skateboarding is awesome!' and nothing else. Why is this NOT yet an argument?
Recap
An opinion is a bare claim with no support, while an argument is a claim plus the premises that hold it up like beams under a bridge. To tell them apart, ask what the conclusion is and whether any reasons are actually given for it.
Reflect
When have you accepted an opinion that gave you no real reason to agree?