Standard Argument Types
There are several kinds of arguments in logic, the best-known of which are "deductive" and "inductive." These are sometimes referred to broadly as "truth-preserving" arguments, because they assert something about the truth of a particular claim. A deductive argument asserts that the truth of the conclusion is a logical consequence of the premises. An inductive argument, on the other hand, asserts that the truth of the conclusion is supported by the premises. Each premise and the conclusion are truth bearers or "truth-candidates", capable of being either true or false (and not both). While statements in an argument are referred to as being either true or false, arguments are referred to as being valid or invalid (see logical truth). A deductive argument is valid if and only if the truth of the conclusion is entailed by (is a logical consequence of) the premises, and its corresponding conditional is therefore a logical truth. A sound argument is a valid argument with true premises; a valid argument may well have false premises.
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