This section of the article briefly elucidates the general elements relating to verbal reasoning in order of increasing complexity.
Vocabulary and grammar Vocabulary (the knowledge of words' meanings in a language) and
grammar (knowledge of words' proper relation to one another in a language) can function both as prerequisites as well as topics of focus of verbal reasoning. In the former capacity, they are used to form propositions and arguments (see below), while in the latter capacity they are the subject of analysis and evaluation, where verbal reasoning synthesizes linguistic information and analyzes relationships among component parts of sentences, words, and concepts.
Propositions The basic element of reasoning (verbal, or otherwise) is the
proposition. A proposition is simply the meaning behind a
declarative sentence that can be either true or false (note: special care is taken here to mention that the proposition is specifically what is
meant by such a sentence, and is
not the actual sentence itself). In other words, a proposition is something that one can know, believe, think, assume, or so on. Worth explicitly mentioning here is that only
some (and not necessarily all) statements count as propositions. This is because the defining feature of a proposition is that it is necessarily making some assertion which can intelligibly be assigned a
truth value. In other words: statements are only propositions if they are Truth-apt. To illustrate this principled distinction, let us consider the following two statements: • "The sky is blue." • "Tell me your name." The first sentence is a proposition because it purports a fact which is either true or untrue. The second sentence, however, is
not a proposition, because it does not appear to make any true/false assertion (that is, there is nothing meant by the sentence that one could say were or weren't "true").
Premises and conclusions A
premise is a proposition in an
argument which will justify or induce a conclusion. That is, premises are propositions which, if
true, allow for the logical inference of an associated proposition which is known as the "conclusion". To give an example: the statement "John is a bachelor" is a premise in the one-sentence argument "
John is a bachelor, therefore John is unmarried", and the conclusion is that "John is unmarried". Premises may be treated somewhat differently according to the specific type of argument in which they occur. In a
deductive argument, premises are often
assumed to be true — regardless of whether or not they really are. This is juxtaposed against
inductive arguments, in which there is merely a
chance of some premise(s) (and/or conclusion(s)) being true.
Arguments and reason An argument is a series of premises together with one or more conclusion(s). Arguments can serve a variety of purposes, ranging from determining the degree of truth of a conclusion, to persuading individuals to accept or reject some belief(s) (as in the case of
rhetoric). An additional note on arguments is that they may take a number of different forms, including that of a
syllogism,
essay, or
dialogue (among others). To the extent which argument overlaps with and is reliant upon language, it may be considered one of the central concerns of verbal reasoning (or for that matter
any reasoning, at large). At this point a sort of maximal scope has been reached, wherein it is appropriate to point out and address the issue of
circularity. Insofar as verbal reasoning is used to create and analyze arguments of language, while at the same time arguments (using language as their vehicle) are used to exercise and analyze
reasoning, there will be some inevitable degree of circularity between the two. This point offers a fitting conclusion to the current section, and serves to reiterate the importance of verbal reasoning. == See also ==