Term paper premise

In philosophy, then, the process of creating premises and carrying them through to a conclusion involves logic and deductive reasoning. Other areas provide a similar, but slightly different, take when defining and explaining premises. For nonfiction writing, the term premise carries largely the same definition as in philosophy.

The concept can also be useful in science, such as in the study of genetics or biology versus environment, which is also known as the nature-versus-nurture debate. In "Logic and Philosophy: A Modern Introduction," Alan Hausman, Howard Kahane, and Paul Tidman give this example: "Identical twins often have different IQ test scores.

The term premise comes from medieval Latin, meaning "things mentioned before.". In philosophy as well as fiction and nonfiction writing, the premise follows largely the same pattern as that defined in Merriam-Webster. ... The premise—the thing or things that came before—lead (or fail to lead) to a logical resolution in an argument or story.

Nonfiction writing uses the same terminology as in philosophy, such as syllogism, which Purdue OWL describes as the "simplest sequence of logical premises and conclusions." Nonfiction writers use a premise or premises as the backbone of a piece such as an editorial, opinion article, or even a letter to the editor of a newspaper.