Of Arguments
An argument is sound if and only if
- The argument is valid.
- All of its premises are true.
For instance,
- All men are mortal.
- Socrates is a man.
- Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
The argument is valid (because the conclusion is true based on the premises, that is, that the conclusion follows the premises) and since the premises are in fact true, the argument is sound.
The following argument is valid but not sound:
- All organisms with wings can fly.
- Penguins have wings.
- Therefore, penguins can fly.
Since the first premise is actually false, the argument, though valid, is not sound.
Read more about this topic: Soundness
Famous quotes containing the word arguments:
“Argument is conclusive ... but ... it does not remove doubt, so that the mind may rest in the sure knowledge of the truth, unless it finds it by the method of experiment.... For if any man who never saw fire proved by satisfactory arguments that fire burns ... his hearer’s mind would never be satisfied, nor would he avoid the fire until he put his hand in it ... that he might learn by experiment what argument taught.”
—Roger Bacon (c. 1214–1294)
“Compared to football, baseball is almost an Oriental game, minimizing individual stardom, requiring a wide range of aggressive and defensive skills, and filled with long periods of inaction and irresolution. It has no time limitations. Football, on the other hand, has immediate goals, resolution on every single play, and a lot of violence—itself a highlight. It has clearly distinguishable hierarchies: heroes and drones.”
—Jerry Mander, U.S. advertising executive, author. Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, ch. 15, Morrow (1978)