Enthymemes are measuring devices for testing a working argument's suitability and direction because they help us reflect on our premises, find agreement and resonance with others, and, most importantly, learn how to work with interference patterns in communicative processes (that is, how to deal with disagreement). An enthymeme is like a syllogism, with an essential difference. When you program a computer, you tell it what to do: a computer will accept the logic of the syllogism "sight unseen." Circuit closed. Enthymemes, on the other hand, are open to question, completed by the unspoken (and often unknown) assumptions, or background beliefs, of any particular audience. Think about the last time you disagree with someone, and then found your way to some sort of agreement. When we write, and make claims, our audience is not always right there in the moment, standing at attention ready to agree or disagree. So, when we write, we always pause to carefully consider and tinker with the major premise of our claims (our enthymemes), so that we can anticipate patterns of resonance - places where the audience and an argument are "on the same page." We're also sure to find interference patterns when readers/listeners/users bring different assumptions than we expect, and get noisy about some the assumptions built into our premises. And so on!

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Go to Mix Master Blog. Practice distinguishing premises from conclusions.

browse further: yet another version of Aristotle's Rhetoric

an interdisciplinary bibliography - scholars blather on about enthymemes