Argument vs. Persuasion — What's the Difference?

A statement or series of statements for or against something.

Influencing someone's beliefs or actions.

An exchange of diverging or opposite views.

The process of being persuaded to do or believe something.

In logic and philosophy, an argument is a series of statements (in a natural language), called the premises or premisses (both spellings are acceptable), intended to determine the degree of truth of another statement, the conclusion. The logical form of an argument in a natural language can be represented in a symbolic formal language, and independently of natural language formally defined "arguments" can be made in math and computer science.

Employing emotional, ethical, or logical appeals.

An exchange of diverging or opposite views, typically a heated or angry one

Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term of influence. Persuasion can attempt to influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviors.Propaganda is a form of persuasion used to persuade a large audience using for the purposes of the individual or group producing the propaganda.

A reason or set of reasons given in support of an idea, action or theory

The act of persuading or the state of being persuaded

An independent variable associated with a function or proposition and determining its value. For example, in the expression y = F(x₁, x₂), the arguments of the function F are x₁ and x₂, and the value is y.

The ability or power to persuade

Any of the noun phrases in a clause that are related directly to the verb, typically the subject, direct object, and indirect object.

A strongly held opinion; a conviction

A summary of the subject matter of a book.

A body of religious beliefs; a religion

A discussion in which the parties involved express disagreement with one another; a debate

A party, faction, or group holding to a particular set of ideas or beliefs.

An angry discussion involving disagreement among the participants; a quarrel

(Informal) Kind; sort

(Archaic) A reason or matter for dispute or contention

The act of persuading, or trying to do so; the addressing of arguments to someone with the intention of changing their mind or convincing them of a certain point of view, course of action etc.

A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood

An argument or other statement intended to influence one's opinions or beliefs; a way of persuading someone.

A fact or statement put forth as proof or evidence; a reason

A strongly held conviction, opinion or belief.

A set of statements in which one follows logically as a conclusion from the others.

One's ability or power to influence someone's opinions or feelings; persuasiveness.

A summary or short statement of the plot or subject of a literary work.

A specified religious adherence, a creed; any school of thought or ideology.

A topic; a subject

Another personal, animal or inanimate trait that is not (very) liable to be changed by persuasion, such as sex, gender, ethnicity, origin, profession or nature.

(Logic) The minor premise in a syllogism.

The act of persuading; the act of influencing the mind by arguments or reasons offered, or by anything that moves the mind or passions, or inclines the will to a determination.

The independent variable of a function.

The state of being persuaded or convinced; settled opinion or conviction, which has been induced.

The angle of a complex number measured from the positive horizontal axis.

A creed or belief; a sect or party adhering to a certain creed or system of opinions; as, of the same persuasion; all persuasions are agreed.

(Computers) A value used to evaluate a procedure or subroutine.

The power or quality of persuading; persuasiveness.

(Linguistics) A word, phrase, or clause in a semantic relation with a word or phrase and that helps complete the meaning of that word or phrase, such as a noun phrase that is the object of a verb. The clause that we go is an argument of the verb suggest in the sentence I suggest that we go.

That which persuades; a persuasive.

A fact or statement used to support a proposition; a reason.

The act of persuading (or attempting to persuade); communication intended to induce belief or action

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.

A personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty;

(countable) A process of reasoning; argumentation.

Inducement to act by argument or reasoning or entreaty

(countable) An abstract or summary of the content of a literary work such as a book, a poem or a major section such as a chapter, included in the work before the content itself; (figuratively) the contents themselves.

The act of convincing someone to do or believe something.

(countable) A verbal dispute; a quarrel.

The ability to persuade others.

Any dispute, altercation, or collision.

Any of the phrases that bears a syntactic connection to the verb of a clause.

The independent variable of a function.

The phase of a complex number.

A quantity on which the calculation of another quantity depends.

A value, or a reference to a value, passed to a function.

A parameter at a function call; an actual parameter, as opposed to a formal parameter.

A matter in question; a business in hand.

The subject matter of an artistic representation, discourse, or writing; a theme or topic.

Evidence, proof; (countable) an item of such evidence or proof.

To put forward as an argument; to argue.

To adduce evidence, to provide proof.

Proof; evidence.

A reason or reasons offered in proof, to induce belief, or convince the mind; reasoning expressed in words; as, an argument about, concerning, or regarding a proposition, for or in favor of it, or against it.

A process of reasoning, or a controversy made up of rational proofs; argumentation; discussion; disputation.

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.

Matter for question; business in hand.

The quantity on which another quantity in a table depends; as, the altitude is the argument of the refraction.

The independent variable upon whose value that of a function depends.

To make an argument; to argue.

A fact or assertion offered as evidence that something is true;

A contentious speech act; a dispute where there is strong disagreement;

A discussion in which reasons are advanced for and against some proposition or proposal;

A summary of the subject or plot of a literary work or play or movie;

A variable in a logical or mathematical expression whose value determines the dependent variable; if f(x)=y, x is the independent variable

A set of reasons given to support a viewpoint.

A discussion involving differing points of view.

A process of reasoning and advancing proof.

A set of reasons presented to support a viewpoint.

The act of influencing someone's beliefs or actions.

While based on logic, arguments can sometimes include emotional elements.

No, persuasion can also be based on logical or ethical appeals.

Yes, persuasive elements can be incorporated into arguments.

No, arguments can be constructive and respectful.

Arguments are part of debates; debates involve opposing arguments.

Yes, but the primary goal is clarity and understanding.

Generally, yes, but they can also be exploratory discussions.

Yes, ethical persuasion respects the audience's freedom of choice.

Not always, as persuasion can also rely heavily on emotional appeal.

Yes, storytelling can be a powerful persuasive tool.

Persuasion can influence values, but deep-seated values are harder to change.

Facts are important, but persuasion often requires understanding the audience's emotions and values.

Yes, arguments should focus on points, not personal attacks.