WHAT IS A CONDUCTIVE ARGUMENT? 10 EXAMPLES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

A conductive argument is a list or set of propositions or reasons called premises, independent, that offer a final conclusion. For example: television is expensive (premise 1), it has bad opinions (premise 2), it only has a 6-month warranty (premise 4), I will not buy that television (conclusion).

An argument is then made up of one or more premises and a conclusion. The premises are statements that are presented as the reasons why an argument should be accepted as valid, that is, consider that its conclusion that tries to prove the premises, is true.

In a conductive argument, the premises are valid separately and thus favor the conclusion. They do not need to be interrelated or linked to each other, which is why they are said to be convergent.

In fact, even if one or more premises were removed, this would not affect the relevance of the others and the conclusion would be the same.

The premises of an argument can be true, false or controversial. In particular, conductive arguments can include "counter-premises", that is, negative factors that provide evidence against the conclusion; in everyday terms, they would be the "cons" of the aforementioned list.

In these cases, in order to accept or agree with the conclusion of an argument with these characteristics, it is necessary to evaluate how significant the reasons in favor and those that are against are.

You may also be interested in seeing 20 examples of arguments from authority.

Concept of conductive argument and its importance

The concept of conductive argument is widely used in the field of logical reasoning.

A very popular example is the lists of pros and cons that are used many times to make a decision about a particular issue, that is, a series of premises are established to reach a conclusion.

Conductive arguments help to develop critical thinking, since they make the person evaluate each one of the premises or reasons, considering the weight, significance or veracity of each one and create for themselves an opinion that may or may not coincide with the conclusion raised.

That is why it is said that a conductive argument is not conclusive since it may or may not be valid from a logical point of view.

Examples of conductive arguments

Example 1

Premise 1: Los Angeles is a clean city.

Premise 2: Living in Los Angeles is not too expensive.

Premise 3: I know some people who live in Los Angeles.

Premise 4: There are good public transportation systems in Los Angeles.

Conclusion: I will move to Los Angeles.

Example 2

Premise 1: It is likely to rain tomorrow.

Premise 2: The sky is cloudy tonight.

Premise 3: The weather channel reported that there is a 50% chance that it will rain tomorrow.

Conclusion: Tomorrow it will rain.

Example 3

Premise 1: The "Harry Potter" saga tells an interesting story.

Premise 2: The "Harry Potter" saga features many mysterious characters.

Premise 3: "Harry Potter" books are a good way to get children interested in reading.

Premise 4: The story of "Harry Potter" shows positive aspects and human values.

Conclusion: The saga of "Harry Potter" is good for young people.

Example N ° 4

Counter-premise 1: Air travel is physically exhausting.

Counter-premise 2: Air travel is relatively expensive.

Counter-premise 3: Airports do not always send luggage correctly.

Premise 1: Air travel is fast.

Premise 2: I am very tired and can sleep on the plane.

Premise 3: The company I work for will pay my expenses later.

Conclusion: It is okay to travel to the conference by air rather than by train.

Example N ° 5

Premise 1: She is always aware of him.

Premise 2: When he is not in town, she is restless.

Premise 3: Whenever possible, she will mention your name in conversation.

Premise 4: No man had occupied her attention in this way in the past.

Conclusion: She is in love with him.

Example N ° 6

Premise 1: To begin with, the lie is only temporary. You tell the kids about Santa now, but then you will tell them the truth. Disappointment is not forever.

Premise 2: Disappointment is mild. You don't take something false and say it's true, you take something that's fiction and you say it's true, a smaller distortion. This means that the loss of illusion is smoother. When children grow up they don't completely lose Santa Claus, they just think of him in a different way.

Premise 3: Finally, disappointment is good for children. Believing in Santa Claus brings magic and emotion to Christmas, the illusion is greater, the joy more defined.

Conclusion: Usually, the Santa Claus lie is a white lie.

It is observed in this argument that each premise is independent of the other and offers a compelling reason to conclude that it is okay for parents to teach their children about Santa Claus.

Example No. 7

Premise 1: Harry was born in Windsor, Ontario.

Premise 2: Harry is a resident of Ontario.

Conclusion: Harry is Canadian.

Example No. 8

Premise 1: Luisa is a very organized, intelligent and punctual student.

Premise 2: Luisa gets along well with her classmates and is quite popular.

Counter-premise 3: Although Luisa has never been the class delegate and does not know her functions well, she would have a good performance as such.

Conclusion: Luisa should be the delegate of the room.

Example N ° 9

Premise 1: John is good at math.

Premise 2: Juan's father and two of his cousins ​​are engineers.

Premise 3: Juan likes to know how electronic devices work.

Premise 4: Juan is a disciplined young man.

Conclusion: Juan should study engineering.

Example No. 10

Premise 1: You have nothing to do today.

Premise 2: Your mother asked you last week and you didn't.

Premise 3: Your mother should not make weights for her health condition.

Conclusion: You should accompany your mother to the supermarket to help her with the bags.

Most of the time, the arguments are presented not as a list but as a continuous text. For more detailed analysis, they are divided into sentences independent of each other.

Conductive arguments are commonly used in practical questions in which a number of independent factors affect a decision, although they are also used in debates about behavior, historical events, and literary texts.

Themes of interest

Probabilistic argument.

Inductive argument.

Deductive argument.

Analog argument.

Argument from authority.

Abductive argument.

References

1. 2 examples of conductive arguments. Recovered from: brainly.lat.
2. Recovered from: iep.utm.edu.
3. Bassam, G. et al (2011). Critical Thinking: A Student's Introduction. New York, Mc Graw-Hill.
4. Conductive Arguments. Recovered from: ojs.uwindsor.ca.
5. Evaluation, conductive argument (first pattern). Recovered from: humanidades.cosdac.sems.gob.mx.
6. Govier, T. (2010). A Practical Study of Argument. Wadsworth, Cengage Lerning.
7. Hitchcock, D. (2017). On Reasoning and Argument: Essays in Informal Logic and on Critical Thinking. Switzerland, Springer International Publishing.