Argument is a term sometimes used as synonymous with the subject of a discourse, but more frequently appropriated to any kind of method employed for the purpose of confuting or at least silencing an opponent. Logicians have reduced arguments to a number of distinct heads, such as the argumentum ad judicium, which founds on solid proofs and addresses to the judgment; the argumentum ad verecundiam, which appeals to the modesty or bashfulness of an opponent by reminding him of the great names or authorities by whom the view disputed by him is supported; the argumentum ad ignorantiam, the employment of some logical fallacy towards persons likely to be deceived by it; and the argumentum ad hominem, an argument which presses a man with consequences drawn from his own principles and concessions, or his own conduct. Research Argument
The word contest has several interpretations within the English language. In popular parlance, a contest is often regarded as a conflict or competition. This may be friendly, such as a sports contest, or more aggressive such as a contention. Another interpretation of contest is in the form of a keen controversy, where one disputes an argument. Thus, one can contest another's statement.
Formerly, during the 17th century, the term contest was used to mean to bear witness, or to confirm or assert with the witness of an oath. Thus to contest was to swear to a fact or statement under oath. But this use had fallen into disuse by the 20th century. Research Contest
In logic, a dilemma (named from the Greek dis, twice, and lemma, an assumption), is a form of argument used to prove the falsehood or absurdity of some assertion, as in the following instance:
If he did go he must be either foolish or wicked; but we know he is neither foolish nor wicked; therefore he cannot have done so. The two suppositions, which are equally untenable, are called the 'horns' of the dilemma. Research Dilemma
In law, embracery is the misdemeanour of attempting to influence a juryman by money, promises, letters, entertainments, persuasions, or the like, otherwise than by evidence and argument given in open court. A juryman allowing himself to be corrupted is equally guilty of embracery. Research Embracery
In logic, a fallacy is when an argument is used as decisive of a particular issue, which in reality it does not decide. Properly a fallacy is a fault in the form of reasoning, but the term is applied also to faults in the substance of the argument such as the petitio principii, or proving one proposition by assuming another which is identical with it; ignoratio elenchi, or mistaking the point at issue; post hocergo propter hoc, or arguing as if sequence were the same thing as cause and effect. Research Fallacy
Foundling hospitals were charitable institutions for the care of children abandoned by their parents and found by strangers. They were first founded to reduce instances of infanticide during the 7th and 8th centuries by church authorities and their numbers increased rapidly during the Middle Ages, especially in France. In 1760 the London Foundling hospital, founded in 1739, had to restrict its intake due to the large increase in the number of abandoned children. Critics of the Foundling Hospitals argued that such institutions encouraged immorality, and argument which gained widespread support during the Victorian period in Britain. Research Foundling Hospital
The case of Hylton vs United States was a legal action in the US. In 1795 Hylton, of Virginia, was presented by the District Attorney before the CircuitCourt for refusing to pay duty upon certain carriages, which, he averred, were kept for his own private use. The decree was against the defendant, and the case was transferred to the Supreme Court of the United States. The argument turned entirely upon the question of the tax being direct or indirect. The court decided it to be
indirect since it must be incapable of apportionment and could not be uniform. Accordingly judgment was affirmed for the defendant. Research Hylton vs United States
Etymologically a hypothesis is a supposition, and the term is popularly used to denote something not proved, but assumed for the sake of argument. In scientific and philosophical usage the term hypothesis denotes either a probable theory of phenomena not yet fully explained, or a strictly scientific theory which accounts for all the known facts of the case, and which only needs the verification of subsequent observations and deductions to become a certainty. Thus the conjecture of Isaac Newton that the force of gravity, as exemplified on the earth, might extend to the moon, was in its first stage a probable hypothesis; but when it was found to account for all the facts, it became a scientific hypothesis or theory. Research Hypothesis
Natural deduction is a system of formal logic that has no axioms but permits the assumption of premises of an argument. Such a system uses sequents to record which assumptions are operative at any stage. Research Natural deduction
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Abduction
