APPEALing To Logos: using REAson And EvidEnCE To FiT THE siTuATion 227- Although class is a key factor in Americans’ access to health care, edu-
cation, and wealth, students know very little about the social structure
in the United States. - In their textbooks, textbook writers do not address the issue of class,
an issue that people need to know about. - Therefore, if people had this knowledge, they would understand that
poverty cannot be blamed on the poor.
Notice that Loewen’s premises are not necessarily true. For example, read-
ers could challenge the premise that “textbook writers do not address is -
sues of class.” After all, Loewen examined just twelve textbooks. What if
he had examined a different set of textbooks? Would he have drawn the
same conclusion? And even if Loewen’s evidence convinces us that the two
premises are true, we do not have to accept that the conclusion is true.
The conclusion in an inductive argument is never definitive. That is
the nature of any argument that deals with human emotions and actions.
Moreover, we have seen throughout history that people tend to disagree
much more on the terms of an argument than on its form. Do we agree
that Israel’s leaders practice apartheid? (What do we mean by apartheid in
this case?) Do we agree with the need to grant women reproductive rights?
(When does life begin?) Do we agree that all people should be treated
equally? (Would equality mean equal access to resources or to outcomes?)
Deductive arguments are conclusive. In a deductive argument, the
premises are universal truths — laws of nature, if you will — and the con-
clusion must follow from those premises. That is, a^2 plus b^2 always equals
c^2 , and humans are always mortal.
By contrast, an inductive argument is never conclusive. The premises
may or may not be true; and even if they are true, the conclusion may be
false. We might accept that class matters and that high school history text-
books don’t address the issue of class structure in the United States; but we
still would not know that students who have studied social stratification in
America will necessarily understand the nature of poverty. It may be that
social class is only one reason for poverty; or it may be that textbooks are
only one source of information about social stratification in the United
States, that textbook omissions are simply not as serious as Loewen
claims. That the premises of an argument are true only establishes that the
conclusion is probably true and, perhaps, true only for some readers.
Inductive argument is the basis of academic writing; it is also the basis
of any appeal to logos. The process of constructing an inductive argument
involves three steps:- State the premises of your argument.
- Use credible evidence to show readers that your argument has merit.
- Demonstrate that the conclusion follows from the premises.
08_GRE_5344_Ch8_211_256.indd 227 11/19/14 11:04 AM