Well I hope the first lecture convinced you that arguments really matter.

Of course, they're not the only things that matters, there's more to life than reason and arguments. but they are something that matters and they matter a lot. So, we need to understand arguments. Now, the first step in understanding arguments is to figure out what arguments are. And the first step in understanding what arguments are is to figure out what arguments are not. Because we want to distinguish arguments from all of those things that don't count as arguing. And the best source of information about what arguments are not, is, of course, Monty Python. Well, that was pretty silly wasn't it? But in the midst of all that silliness we find some truth because after all, many members of the Monty Python troupe were philosophy majors. So each room represents a kind of thing that we need to distinguish from arguments. [INAUDIBLE] . So let's think first about getting hit on the head lessons. [NOISE] . Arguments are not like hitting people on the head, you hit poeple on the head when you wrestle. [NOISE]. The point is that arguments are not fights you don't win an argument by hitting somebody on the head. Sometimes little children say that their parents are arguing, when they're really having a verbal fight. >>All this fighting I might as well be back with my parents. Dammit George, I told you if you didn't quit drinking I'd leave you. Well, I guess that makes you a liar because I'm drunk as hell and you're still here. >> But you can not win an argument just by yelling at someone.

That doesn't make the argument any better because that's not the point of arguing. Another room in the Monty Python skit involves abuse. >> Don't give me that you snotty-faced heap of parrot droppings. >> Now abuse is one of the things you do with language, but it's not the same as arguing. You cannot win an argument simply by calling your opponent a stupid git. >> Stupid git. >> And the point of this course is not to teach you to go back and abuse your roommate by calling them nasty names. That will not help you win any argument. It also won't help you win any friends. And another room in the skit has to do with complaining. >> [INAUDIBLE]. >> But all those complaints don't amount to an argument either. They're just expressing your emotion about the situation. Arguing is something different from all of those rooms. So what is arguing? Well, at one point one of the character says. >> Well argument is not the same as contradiction. >>Can be. >> No, it can't. >> So what do they mean by a contradiction? In British English to say a contradiction is just to deny the person or contradict what they said. but contradicting what the person said, that is denying it, is not arguing. I can say, what do you think the best flavor of ice cream in the world? Well I have my favorite. I know what the best flavor is. The best flavor is Ben and Jerry's Coconut Almond Fudge Chip ice cream, There's nothing better. And then you say, no it isn't. Well you haven't argued that it isn't and I haven't argued that it is, we're just disagreeing with each other. We haven't given any reason for any of the positions that we've adopted yet. So, as Monty Python says later on, in different character, argument is an intellectual process. It's a process not just of asserting your

views, but of giving some kind of reason for your views. So the next definition that Monty Python gives of an argument, is that an argument is a connected series of statements to establish a proposition. I take it they mean intended to establish a certain proposition. So that's a pretty cool definition, if you think about it, because it tells you what an argument is made of. It's a series of statements, and statements are made in language, so arguments are made of language. It also tells you what the purpose of argument is. The purpose of argument, they say, is to establish a certain proposition. So now we have a pretty unique definition of argument. This definition gives us a nice contrast. Because there are lots of other series of statements or sentences that don't count as arguments because they're not intended to establish a proposition. Consider for example a novel, which has statements about what's going on, but it's not necessarily trying to establish any particular proposition. Or a dictionary might have a series of definitions, but it's not intended to establish a certain proposition. Instead, novels and dictionaries order sentences in a different way. They order them either chronologically or alphabetically whereas, arguments are trying to put statements into a certain structure that reflects the order of reasoning in order to establish the proposition according to Monty Python. But Monty Python, no matter how great they are, and they are great, didn't get it quite right because the purpose of an argument is not always to establish a proposition because some propositions that are conclusions of arguments, we already knew. Consider for example a mathematical proof. If someone tries to prove the Pythagorean theorem in geometry. People already believe the theorem. They already knew that it was true. So they weren't trying to establish the proposition. But the proof does something else, it shows you how that proposition

is connected to the axioms of the system. It helps you understand why the proposition is true. And, we'll see that other arguments, like explanations, do the same thing. So sometimes arguments are intended to establish a proposition, like Monty Python said, but in other cases they're intended to help us understand the proposition and the reasons why the proposition is true. So we want to distinguish reasons to believe that the proposition is true, from reasons why the proposition is true. and arguments can do both of those things. So, we need a somewhat broader definition of argument to cover these different kinds of reasons. We'll think of an argument as a connected series of sentences or statements or propositions, where some of these sentences or statements or propositions or premises and one of them is the conclusion and the one's that are premises are intended to provide some kind of reason for the one that's the conclusion. This definition is useful in many ways. First of all, it tells us what the parts of the arguments are, the premises and the conclusion. Secondly, it tells you what the argument's made of. It's made up of language because sentences and statements and propositions are made in language. Third, it tells you the purpose of argument, to give a reason for the conclusion. Fourth, a nice feature is that it's very flexible because there are lots of different kinds of reasons. We don't want our definition to be too narrow because then it won't cover all the different kinds of arguments, and the notion of reason captures the different kinds of relations between the premises and the conclusion in different kinds of arguments. So let's do a few quick exercises to make sure that you understand how this definition works.