October 2010 LSAT Section 3 Question 3

Commentator: If a political administration is both economically successful and successful at protecting individual li...

tori.e on March 22, 2022

Premise vs Principle

I'm confused about the difference between a premise and a principle. How do you identify which is which? What is the importance of distinguishing the two?

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Emil-Kunkin on March 25, 2022

Hi Tori,

It is quite important to distinguish them! A premise is anything that is used to support an argument. It can be a general statement, a fact, or a viewpoint that is used in some way to support a conclusion.

A principle is a general statement about the way that things should or should not be. For example, "people should shower more than once a month" or "A business should not exploit workers" are both principles. They are general statements that convey a sense of should or should not.

Confusingly, some principles can be used as a premise in an argument. For example, we could take the argument "people should shower more than once a month, and you have not showered in 2 months, so you should take a shower." In this argument, we cite a principle and a fact as premises to support our conclusion.

To sum it up, a principle is a general statement that can be used as a premise. A premise is any statement used to support a conclusion.

tori.e on March 27, 2022

Thank you Emil!