In discourse and logic, a premise is a claim that is a reason (or element of a set of reasons) for, or objection against, some other claim. Discourse (L discursus, "running to and from" means either "written or spoken communication or debate" or "a formal discussion Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and Inference. In Informal logic, a reason consists of either a single Premise or Co-premises in support of an Argument. In Informal logic an objection (also called expostulation or refutation) is a reason arguing against a Premise, lemma In other words, it is a statement presumed true within the context of an argument toward a conclusion. In Logic and Philosophy, proposition refers to either (a the content or Meaning of a meaningful Declarative sentence In Logic, an argument is a Set of one or more Declarative sentences (or "propositions") known as the Premises along A conclusion is a Proposition, which is arrived at after the consideration of Evidence, Arguments or Premises Logic Premises are sometimes stated explicitly by way of disambiguation or for emphasis, but more often they are left tacitly understood as being obvious or self-evident ("it goes without saying"), or not conducive to succinct discourse. In Epistemology (theory of knowledge a self-evident proposition is one that is known to be true by understanding its meaning without proof. For example, in the argument

Socrates is mortal, since all men are

it is evident that a tacitly understood claim is that Socrates is a man. The fully expressed reasoning is thus:

Since all men are mortal and Socrates is a man, it follows that Socrates is mortal.

In this example, the first two independent clauses preceding the comma (namely, "all men are mortal" and "Socrates is a man") are the premises, while "Socrates is mortal" is the conclusion. In Grammar, a clause is a word or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in some Languages and some types of

In the context of ordinary argumentation, the rational acceptability of a disputed conclusion depends on both the truth of the premises and the soundness of the reasoning from the premises to the conclusion. The meaning of the word truth extends from Honesty, Good faith, and Sincerity in general to agreement with Fact or Reality In Mathematical logic, a Logical system has the soundness property If and only if its Inference rules prove only formulas that are

See also

• Argument map
• Argumentation theory
• Co-premise
• Inference objection
• Main contention
• Proposition
• Statement in mathematical logic and philosophy
• Validity