What is "argument"

Argument \Ar"gu*ment\, n. [F. argument, L. argumentum, fr. arguere to argue.]

1. Proof; evidence. [Obs.]

   There is.. no more palpable and convincing argument of the existence of a Deity.
   --Ray.

   Why, then, is it made a badge of wit and an argument of parts for a man to commence atheist, and to cast off all belief of providence, all awe and reverence for religion?
   --South.

2. A reason or reasons offered in proof, to induce belief, or convince the mind; reasoning expressed in words; as, an argument about, concerning, or regarding a proposition, for or in favor of it, or against it.

3. A process of reasoning, or a controversy made up of rational proofs; argumentation; discussion; disputation.

   The argument is about things, but names.
   --Locke.

4. The subject matter of a discourse, writing, or artistic representation; theme or topic; also, an abstract or summary, as of the contents of a book, chapter, poem.

   You and love are still my argument.
   --Shak.

   The abstract or argument of the piece.
   --Jeffrey.

   [Shields] with boastful argument portrayed.
   --Milton.

5. Matter for question; business in hand. [Obs.]

   Sheathed their swords for lack of argument.
   --Shak.

6. (Astron.) The quantity on which another quantity in a table depends; as, the altitude is the argument of the refraction.

7. (Math.) The independent variable upon whose value that of a function depends.
   --Brande & C.

Argument \Ar"gu*ment\ ([a^]r"g[-u]*ment), v. i. [L. argumentari.] To make an argument; to argue. [Obs.]
--Gower.

early 14c., "statements and reasoning in support of a proposition," from Old French arguement "reasoning, opinion; accusation, charge" (13c.), from Latin argumentum "evidence, ground, support, proof; a logical argument," from arguere "to argue" (see argue). Sense passed through "subject of contention" to "a quarrel," a sense formerly attached to argumentation.

n. 1 A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason. 2 A verbal dispute; a quarrel. 3 A process of reasoning. 4 (context philosophy logic English) A series of propositions organized so that the final proposition is a conclusion which is intended to follow logically from the preceding propositions, which function as premises. 5 (context mathematics English) The independent variable of a function. 6 (context programming English) A value, or reference to a value, passed to a function.

1. n. a fact or assertion offered as evidence that something is true; "it was a strong argument that his hypothesis was true" [syn: statement]

2. a contentious speech act; a dispute where there is strong disagreement; "they were involved in a violent argument" [syn: controversy, contention, contestation, disputation, disceptation, tilt, arguing]

3. a discussion in which reasons are advanced for and against some proposition or proposal; "the argument over foreign aid goes on and on" [syn: argumentation, debate]

4. a summary of the subject or plot of a literary work or play or movie; "the editor added the argument to the poem" [syn: literary argument]

5. a variable in a logical or mathematical expression whose value determines the dependent variable; if f(x)=y, x is the independent variable

In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, or give evidence or reasons for accepting a particular conclusion.

Argument may also refer to:

An argument in literature is a brief summary, often in prose, of a poem or section of a poem or other work. It is often appended to the beginning of each chapter, book, or canto. They were common during the Renaissance as a way to orient a reader within a large work.

John Milton included arguments for each of the twelve books of the second edition of Paradise Lost, published in 1674 (the original ten-book edition of 1667 did not include them). They present a concise but often simplified account of what happens in the book, though they seem not to be intended to have interpretive value, and they have been only sporadically referenced by critics. The first begins:

The argument could also be in verse, as in Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso or William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Most arguments included in poems are written by the authors themselves, but in other cases they could be added subsequently by a printer or publisher to an earlier work.

In mathematics, arg is a function operating on complex numbers (visualized in a complex plane). It gives the angle between the positive real axis to the line joining the point to the origin, shown as in figure 1, known as an argument of the point.

In linguistics, an argument is an expression that helps complete the meaning of a predicate, the latter referring in this context to a main verb and its auxiliaries. In this regard, the complement is a closely related concept. Most predicates take one, two, or three arguments. A predicate and its arguments form a predicate-argument structure. The discussion of predicates and arguments is associated most with (content) verbs and noun phrases (NPs), although other syntactic categories can also be construed as predicates and as arguments. Arguments must be distinguished from adjuncts. While a predicate needs its arguments to complete its meaning, the adjuncts that appear with a predicate are optional; they are not necessary to complete the meaning of the predicate. Most theories of syntax and semantics acknowledge arguments and adjuncts, although the terminology varies, and the distinction is generally believed to exist in all languages. Dependency grammars sometimes call arguments actants, following Tesnière (1959).

The area of grammar that explores the nature of predicates, their arguments, and adjuncts is called valency theory. Predicates have a valence; they determine the number and type of arguments that can or must appear in their environment. The valence of predicates is also investigated in terms of subcategorization.

In philosophy and logic, an argument is a series of statements typically used to persuade someone of something or to present reasons for accepting a conclusion. The general form of an argument in a natural language is that of premises (typically in the form of propositions, statements or sentences) in support of a claim: the conclusion. The structure of some arguments can also be set out in a formal language, and formally defined "arguments" can be made independently of natural language arguments, as in math, logic, and computer science.

In a typical deductive argument, the premises guarantee the truth of the conclusion, while in an inductive argument, they are thought to provide reasons supporting the conclusion's probable truth. The standards for evaluating non-deductive arguments may rest on different or additional criteria than truth, for example, the persuasiveness of so-called "indispensability claims" in transcendental arguments, the quality of hypotheses in retroduction, or even the disclosure of new possibilities for thinking and acting.

The standards and criteria used in evaluating arguments and their forms of reasoning are studied in logic. Ways of formulating arguments effectively are studied in rhetoric (see also: argumentation theory). An argument in a formal language shows the logical form of the symbolically represented or natural language arguments obtained by its interpretations.

The Argument was an Australian sloop wrecked in 1809.

In March 1809, three ships, the Argument, the Experiment and the Hazard left Pittwater, New South Wales, bound for Sydney with a cargo of wheat. A squall arose and the master of the Argument, Bejamin Pate, watched as the Hazard was driven ashore and wrecked. Deciding to avoid a similar fate he attempted to run for Broken Bay but missed the entrance and struck Short Reef. Benjamin Pate, his hand, James Dicey, and a passenger, Mary Kirk, were all drowned.

The Argument was a sloop of some 8 tons, built in Sydney and registered on 8 October 1800.

Argument (7 February 1977 – after 1996) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In his early racing career he showed consistent form and was placed in several important races, but showed marked improvement in the autumn of 1980. He was considered an unlucky loser when narrowly beaten in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and then traveled to the United States where he won the Washington, D.C. International Stakes. At the end of the year he was officially the best racehorse trained in France. In the following spring he won the Prix d'Harcourt and Prix Ganay but his form deteriorated thereafter and he was beaten in his remaining six races. He made no impact as a sire of winners.