Oh Yeah!

Today I'm going to talk about arguing.
What is an argument first of all? An argument is an attempt to reach and understand the truth. Arguments are not amenable to subjects that require one or more value judgments. By the very nature of an argument, it can only ever be applied to facts. For example. Two people can argue over the health benefits of being a vegetarian. But eating a vegetarian diet is a value judgment and therefore not amenable to argument.

An argument consists of three parts. The premise or premises. The logic that links the premises together and to the conclusion. And the conclusion itself.

An argument can fail either because the premises are false, or because the logic fails to link the premises to the conclusion.

An example of an argument with a bad premise and faulty logic:
P: Autism rates are on the rise.
P: Vaccination rates have been increasing.
C: Therefore, Vaccination causes Autism.

The faulty premise is that Autism rates are on the rise. There is no clear evidence that the true incidence of Autism is rising. The rise is more likely a result of the expanded definition of the disorder and an increasing surveillance.
The faulty logic here comes in the form of confusing correlation with causation. Just because a follows b. That does not mean that a caused b. Just because the "rise in Autism" follows the vaccinations. This Does not mean that the vaccinations causes Autism.

When an argument is constructed with true premises and correct logic. The conclusion of that argument is always true.

The most common error in argument is using bad logic. For a good list of common logical fallacies see here.