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Commens
Digital Companion to C. S. Peirce
‘Complete Argument’ (pub. 23.03.18-15:17). Quote in M. Bergman & S. Paavola (Eds.), The Commens Dictionary: Peirce's Terms in His Own Words. New Edition. Retrieved from http://www.commens.org/dictionary/entry/quote-natural-classification-arguments-4.
Term: 
Complete Argument
Quote: 

…every argument has, as portion of its leading principle, a certain principle which cannot be eliminated from its leading principle. Such a principle may be termed a logical principle.

An argument whose leading principle contains nothing which can be eliminated is termed a complete, in opposition to an incomplete, rhetorical, or enthymematic argument.

Source: 
Peirce, C. S. (1867). On the Natural Classification of Arguments. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 7, 261-287.
References: 
W 2:24
Date of Quote: 
1867
Editorial Annotations: 

In 1893, Peirce modified the last part of this quote as follows: "Since it can never be requisite that a fact stated should also be implied in order to justify a conclusion, every logical principle considered as an assertion will be found to be quite empty. The only thing it really enunciates is a rule of inference; considered as expressing truth, it is nothing." (CP 2.467)

URL: 

http://www.commens.org/dictionary/entry/quote-natural-classification-arguments-4