Co-premise

Co-premise

A co-premise is a premise in reasoning and informal logic which is not the main supporting reason for a contention or a lemma, but is logically necessary to ensure the validity of an argument. One premise by itself, or a group of co-premises can form a reason.

Logical structure

Every significant term or phrase appearing in a premise of a simple argument, should also appear in the contention/conclusion or in a co-premise. But this by itself does not guarantee a valid argument, see the fallacy of the undistributed middle for an example of this.

Sometimes a co-premise will not be explicitly stated. This type of argument is known as an 'enthymematic' argument, and the co-premise may be referred to as a 'hidden' or an 'unstated' co-premise and will often be subject to an inference objection. In this argument map of a simple argument the two reasons for the main contention are co-premises and not separate reasons for believing the contention to be true. They are both necessary to ensure that the argument as a whole retains logical validity.

What the Bible says.jpg


In this example, "What the Bible says is true" is a hidden co-premise.

See also


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Premise — Pre*mise , v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Premised}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Premising}.] [From L. praemissus, p. p., or E. premise, n. See {Premise}, n.] 1. To send before the time, or beforehand; hence, to cause to be before something else; to employ previously …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Premise (disambiguation) — Premise (from the Latin praemissa propositio , meaning placed in front ) can refer to:* Premise, a claim that is a reason for, or an objection against, some other claim as part of an argument * Premises, land and buildings together considered as… …   Wikipedia

  • Premise — Pre*mise , v. i. To make a premise; to set forth something as a premise. Swift. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • premise — index assume (suppose), assumption (supposition), basis, foundation (basis), generalization, ground …   Law dictionary

  • premise — premise, premiss A premiss (usually pronounced prem is) or (rarely) premise is a previous statement from which another is inferred; the plural is premisses or premises. In the plural, premises also means ‘a house or building with its grounds’. As …   Modern English usage

  • premise — [prem′is; ] for v., chiefly Brit [ pri mīz′] n. [ME premisse < ML praemissa < L praemissus, pp. of praemittere, to send before < prae , before + mittere, to send: see PRE & MISSION] 1. a) a previous statement or assertion that serves as… …   English World dictionary

  • premise# — premise n postulate, posit, presupposition, presumption, assumption (see under PRESUPPOSE) Analogous words: ground, *reason: proposition, *proposal premise vb postulate, posit, *presuppose, presume, assume …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • premise — [n] hypothesis, argument apriorism, assertion, assumption, basis, evidence, ground, posit, postulate, postulation, presumption, presupposition, proof, proposition, supposition, thesis; concepts 529,689 Ant. fact, reality, truth premise [v]… …   New thesaurus

  • premise — ► NOUN (Brit. also premiss) 1) Logic a previous statement from which another is inferred. 2) an underlying assumption. ► VERB (premise on/upon) ▪ base (an argument, theory, etc.) on. ORIGIN Old French premisse, from Latin. praemissa propositio… …   English terms dictionary

  • Premise — Prem ise, n.; pl. {Premises}. [Written also, less properly, {premiss}.] [F. pr[ e]misse, fr. L. praemissus, p. p. of praemittere to send before; prae before + mittere to send. See {Mission}.] 1. A proposition antecedently supposed or proved;… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • prémise — ● prémise nom féminin (de pré mise en train) Ensemble d opérations de contrôle et de mise au point sur la forme typographique avant son calage …   Encyclopédie Universelle

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