Validity, Truth, and Logical Form

An argument can be defined as a set of statements of a given language in which the truth of one of them (the conclusion) is assured by the truth of the others (the premises). Logic has to do with the study of arguments, but it is not a discipline oriented to describe our actual practices of argumentation and reasoning. It does not purport to examine the actual psychological processes or states of mind of people. In particular, it is not an empirical task whose outcome varies with different universes of analysis (i.e., different human groups and times). Instead, logic is concerned with a critical evaluation of argumentation; with patterns of correct reasoning.

However, this is still inaccurate as a proper characterization of logic, because any critical assessment of argumentation depends on the implicit goals ascribed to it, and there is not one but a plurality of goals we may seek to accomplish in our argumentative practices. For example, if we intend to persuade an audience, arguments will be evaluated as good or bad according to their merits to the extent that the audience is actually persuaded by our words. That would be an example of a rhetorical assessment of argumentation.