Thinking books · Logic & argumentation · Anthony Weston, 1986

A Rulebook for Arguments — the big ideas

A short, practical set of rules for constructing arguments that hold.

Free — no account needed to read

The big ideas

Its first rule is to distinguish premises from conclusion before anything else, which sounds trivial and is skipped almost universally.

Arguments from example need enough examples, representative ones, and an honest account of the counterexamples — most everyday argument fails on the third.

Arguments from analogy are only as strong as the relevant similarity, so the work is stating where the analogy stops holding.

It is deliberately brief because it is meant to be used while writing, not read once.

Practise it — no need to have read it

Take a position you hold. Write it in premise-conclusion form, then find the strongest counterexample to it yourself.

A hint: If you cannot find one, you probably have not looked — that is the finding.

Where it shows up in real life

• Writing a recommendation
• Making a case for a decision
• Reviewing someone else’s proposal

Described in our own words with the source named — never quoted, and not a substitute for reading the book.