argumentation Argumentation theory, or argumentation, is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be supported or undermined by premises through logical reasoning. With historical origins in logic, dialectic, and rhetoric, argumentation theory, in ...

, an objection is a reason

arguing An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialectic ...

against a

premise A premise or premiss is a true or false statement that helps form the body of an argument, which logically leads to a true or false conclusion. A premise makes a declarative statement about its subject matter which enables a reader to either agre ...

argument An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialect ...

, or conclusion. Definitions of objection vary in whether an objection is always an argument (or

counterargument In reasoning and argument mapping, a counterargument is an objection to an objection. A counterargument can be used to rebut an objection to a premise, a main contention or a lemma. Synonyms of counterargument may include rebuttal, reply, counte ...

) or may include other moves such as questioning. An objection to an objection is sometimes known as a rebuttal. An objection can be issued against an argument retroactively from the point of reference of that argument. This form of objection – invented by the presocratic philosopher

Parmenides Parmenides of Elea (; grc-gre, Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης; ) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Elea in Magna Graecia. Parmenides was born in the Greek colony Greek colonization was an organised Colonies in antiquity ...

– is commonly referred to as a retroactive refutation.

Inference objection

An inference objection is an objection to an argument based not on any of its stated premises, but rather on the relationship between a

and main contention. For a given simple argument, if the assumption is made that its premises are correct, fault may be found in the progression from these to the conclusion of the argument. This can often take the form of an unstated

co-premise A co-premise is a premise in reasoning and informal logic which is not the main supporting reason for a contention or a lemma, but is logically necessary to ensure the validity of an argument An argument is a statement or group of statements ca ...

, as in

begging the question In classical rhetoric and logic, begging the question or assuming the conclusion (Latin: ') is an informal fallacy that occurs when an argument's premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it. For example: * "Green is ...

. In other words, it may be necessary to make an assumption in order to conclude anything from a set of true statements. This assumption must also be true in order that the conclusion follow logically from the initial statements.

Example

In the example to the left, the objector can't find anything contentious in the stated premises of the argument supporting the conclusion that "There is no danger in NASA's Stardust Mission bringing material from the Wild 2 comet back to Earth", but still disagrees with the conclusion. The objection is therefore placed beside the main premise and exactly corresponds to an unstated or 'hidden' co-premise. This is demonstrated by the argument map to the right in which the full pattern of reasoning relating to the contention is set out.

References

{{reflist Arguments Statements

Inference objection

Example

See also

References