Argumentとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French, from Latin argumentum (“proof, evidence, token, subject, contents”), from arguō (“to prove, argue”); see argue.

発音

• (Received 発音) IPA^(key): /ˈɑːɡjʊmənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹɡjumənt/, /ˈɑɹɡjʊmənt/, /ˈɑɹɡjəmənt/

名詞

argument (countable かつ uncountable, 複数形 arguments)

1. A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason.
   • 1691, John Ray, The wisdom of God manifested in the works of the creation

     There is […] no more palpable and convincing argument of the existence of a Deity.

2. A verbal dispute; a quarrel.

   The neighbours got into an argument about the branches of the trees.

3. A process of reasoning.
   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], OCLC 153628242:

     The argument is not about things, but names.

4. (philosophy, logic) A series of propositions organized so that the final proposition is a conclusion which is intended to follow logically from the preceding propositions, which function as premises.
   • 2001, Mark Sainsbury, chapter 1, in Logical Forms — An Introduction to Philosophical Logic, 2nd edition, Blackwell Publishing, →ISBN, §8, page 35:

        Consider the argument:
        15) I am hungry; therefore I am hungry.
     Intuitively this should count as valid. But suppose we thought of the components of arguments as sentences, and suppose we imagine the context shifting between the utterance of the premise and the utterance of the conclusion. Suppose you are hungry and utter the premise, and I am not hungry and utter the conclusion. Then we would have a true premise and a false conclusion, so the argument would not be valid. Clearly we need to avoid such problems, and introducing the notion of a proposition, in the style of this section, is one way of doing so.

5. (mathematics) The independent variable of a function.
6. (mathematics) The phase of a complex number.
7. (programming) A value, or reference to a value, passed to a function.
   • 2011 July 20, Edwin Mares, “Propositional Functions”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy‎^[1], retrieved 2012-07-15:

     In ‘The Critic of Arguments’ (1892), Peirce adopts a notion that is even closer to that of a propositional function. There he develops the concept of the ‘rhema’. He says the rhema is like a relative term, but it is not a term. It contains a copula, that is, when joined to the correct number of arguments it produces an assertion. For example, ‘__ is bought by __ from __ for __’ is a four-place rhema. Applying it to four objects a, b, c, and d produces the assertion that a is bought by b from c for d (ibid. 420).

   Parameters are like labeled fillable blanks used to define a function whereas arguments are passed to a function when calling it, filling in those blanks.

8. (programming) A parameter at a function call; an actual parameter, as opposed to a formal parameter.
10. (linguistics) Any of the phrases that bears a syntactic connection to the verb of a clause.
    • 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 7, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 372:

      In numerous works over the past two decades, beginning with the pioneering work of Gruber (1965), Fillmore (1968a), and Jackendoff (1972), it has been argued that each Argument (i.e. Subject または Complement) of a Predicate bears a particular thematic role (alias theta-role, または θ-role to its Predicate), and that the set of thematic functions which Arguments can fulfil are drawn from a highly restricted, finite, universal set.

11. (astronomy) The quantity on which another quantity in a table depends.

    The altitude is the argument of the refraction.

12. The subject matter of a discourse, writing, or artistic representation; theme or topic; also, an abstract or summary, as of the contents of a book, chapter, poem.
    • 1598, William Shakespeare, "Sonnet 76":

      You and love are still my argument.

    • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act 3 Scene 2:

      Belike this show imports the argument of the play.

      This show is perhaps the subject of the play.

    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

      […] and nearer view
      Bristled with upright beams innumerable
      Of rigid spears, and helmets throng’d, and shields
      Various, with boastful argument portray’d,
      The banded pow’rs of Satan hasting on
      With furious expedition; […]

    • 1822 February, Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey, “Review of Sardanapalus: A Tragedy” in The Edinburgh Review:

      The abstract, or argument of the piece, is shortly as follows.

13. Matter for question; business in hand.
    • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i], page 23, column 1:

      As neere as I could ſift him on that argument,
      On ſome apparant danger ſeene in him,
      Aym‘d at your Highneſſe, no inueterate malice.

    • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i], page 77, column 2:

      On, on, you Nobliſh Engliſh,
      Whoſe blood is fet from Fathers of Warre-proofe:
      Fathers, that like ſo many Alexanders,
      Haue in theſe parts from Morne till Euen fought,
      And ſheath’d their Swords, for lack of argument.

使用する際の注意点

• (formal parameter in a function definition): Some authors regard use of "argument" to mean "formal parameter" to be imprecise, preferring that argument refers only to the value that is used to instantiate the parameter at runtime, while parameter refers only to the name in the function definition that will be instantiated.
• Adjectives often used with "argument": valid, invalid, correct, incorrect, right, wrong, strong, weak, convincing, unconvincing, conclusive, inconclusive, fallacious, simple, straightforward, inductive, deductive, logical, illogical, absurd, specious, flawed

同意語

• (programming value): actual argument, passed parameter
• See also Thesaurus:argument
• See also Thesaurus:dispute

Meronyms

• (logic): proposition, premise, conclusion

派生語

関連する語

動詞

argument (三人称単数 現在形 arguments, 現在分詞 argumenting, 過去形および過去分詞形 argumented)

1. (nonstandard, non-native speakers' English) To put forward as an argument; to argue.
   • 1983, Gregory J. Scott, Marketing Bhutan's Potatoes: Present Patterns and Future Prospects, page 77:

     Hence, domestic potato marketing cannot be argumented in such fashion.

   • 1993, Andreas Gourmelon, “A Method to Analyse the Strain of Memory of Elderly Persons Working with Information Technologies”, in Rehabilitation Technology: Strategies for the European Union, →ISBN, page 211:

     It may be argumented that many elderly persons stay at home and do not even try to use a ticket machine.

   • 1999, Samuel F. Berkovic, Genetics of Focal Epilepsies: Clinical Aspects and Molecular Biology, →ISBN, page 57:

     This was first enunciated by Loiseau et al. (1967) when he argumented that RE 'does not exist' in clinical practice, referring to its pure, typical form.

   • 2012, Harry Fokkens & Franco Nicolis, Background to Beakers, →ISBN:

     The settlement data do in fact not support the Dutch Model, and it is argumented that the C-evidence for the model is absent as well.

   • 2013, Daniel Gurski, Customer Experiences Affect Customer Loyalty, →ISBN, page 45:

     Although it is argumented that organizational learning is based on individual learning (Song et al., 2008), the insights from this study are not generalizable for business-to-business markets.

Further reading

• argument in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• argument in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.