Difference Between Sound and Unsound Argument

The key difference between sound and unsound argument is that a sound ... Let's look at some examples of sound and sound arguments now. Home/Education/Philosophy/DifferenceBetweenSoundandUnsoundArgument Thekeydifferencebetweensoundandunsoundargumentisthatasoundargumentisvalidandhastruepremiseswhereasanunsoundargumentisinvalidand/orhasatleastonefalsepremises. Soundnessisatechnicalfeatureofanargument.Ithelpsustodeterminewhethertheconclusionofanargumentistrue.Althoughmanypeopleassumethatsoundnessreferstothevalidityofanargument,thisisnotso.Avalidargumentisnotnecessarilyasoundargument.Infact,soundnessofanargumentisdeterminedbytwofactors:validityandtruthofthepremises. CONTENT 1.OverviewandKeyDifference 2.WhatisanArgument 3.WhatisaSoundArgument 4.WhatisanUnsoundArgument 5.SidebySideComparison– SoundvsUnsoundArgumentinTabularForm 6.Summary WhatisanArgument? Inthefieldoflogicandphilosophy,anargumentisaseriesofstatementsintendedtodeterminethedegreeoftruthofanotherstatement.Premisesandconclusionsarethebuildingblocksofanargument.Premisesareaseriesofstatementsthatprovidereasonsorevidencetodeterminethetruthofaconclusion.Therefore,anargumentcanhavemorethanonepremise.Aconclusioninanargumentisthemainpointtheargueristryingtoprove.Thus,anargumenthasonlyoneconclusionandoneormorepremises.Let’slookatanexample: Premise1:Nooneundereighteen-years-oldcanvote. Premise2:Roganisundereighteen. Conclusion:Therefore,Rogancannotvote. WhatisaSoundArgument? Anargumentmustfulfilltworequirementsinordertobeconsideredassound.Onerequirementisthattheargumentmustbevalid.Anargumentisvalidwhenitsconclusionfollowslogicallyfromthepremises.Inotherwords,itisimpossibleforthepremisesofanargumenttobetruewhiletheconclusionisfalse.Thesecondrequirementisthatallitspremisesshouldbetrue.Thus,asoundargumentisavalidargumentthathastruepremises. Figure01:ASoundArgument Thefollowingisasoundargumentasitcontainstruepremisesandisvalid. Allmenaremortal. Socratesisaman. Therefore,Socratesismortal. WhatisanUnsoundArgument? Anunsoundargumentistheoppositeofasoundargument.Thus,anunsoundargumentcanbeeithervalidorinvalid.However,iftheargumentisvalid,ithasatleastonefalsepremiseinordertoconsideritasanunsoundargument. Figure02:AnUnsoundArgument ExamplesofSoundandUnsoundArguments Let’slookatsomeexamplesofsoundandsoundargumentsnow. Example1: Allmultiplesof10aremultiplesof5. 20isamultipleof10. Therefore,20isamultipleof5. Itisavalidargumentsincetheconclusionlogicallyfollowsfromthepremises.Moreover,ithastruepremises.Therefore,thisisasoundargument. Example2: Allcatsarepink. Toffeeisacat. Therefore,Toffeeispink. Theaboveisavalidargumenttoosincetheconclusionlogicallyfollowsfromthepremises.However,thefirstpremiseisnottrue.Therefore,thisisanunsoundargument. Example3: Allcowsaremammals. Alldogsaremammals. Therefore,dogsarecows. Theaboveargumentcontainstruepremises,butitisinvalidsincetheconclusiondoesn’tlogicallyfollowfromthepremises.Therefore,itisalsoanunsoundargument. WhatistheDifferenceBetweenSoundandUnsoundArgument? Asoundargumentisanargumentthatisvalidandhastruepremiseswhileanunsoundargumentisanargumentthatisinvalidorhasatleastonefalsepremises.Hence,thisisthekeydifferencebetweensoundandunsoundargument.Therefore,asoundargumentalwayshastruepremisesandtrueconclusionswhereasanunsoundargumentmayhavebothfalseandtruepremisesandconclusions.Thus,thisleadstoanotherdifferencebetweensoundandunsoundargument. Thefollowinginfographicpresentsthedifferencebetweensoundandunsoundargumentinbrief. Summary–SoundvsUnsoundArgument Validityandthetruthofthepremisesarethetwofactorsthatdeterminethesoundnessofanargument.Asoundargumentisanargumentthatisvalidandhastruepremiseswhileanunsoundargumentisanargumentthatisinvalidorhasatleastonefalsepremises.Thus,thisisthekeydifferencebetweensoundandunsoundargument. Reference: 1.Wiki.lesswrong.com.(2019). Soundargument–Lesswrongwiki.[online]Availablehere. 2.En.wikipedia.org.(2019). Soundness.[online]Availablehere. 3.YouTube.(2019). Whatare‘ValidandSound?’–GentlemanThinker Availablehere. Relatedposts: DifferenceBetweenPositivismandConstructivism DifferenceBetweenConstructivismandConstructionism DifferenceBetweenSocialChangeandCulturalChange DifferenceBetweenPragmatismandIdealism DifferenceBetweenPatriarchyandFeminism AbouttheAuthor:HasaHasaisaBAgraduateinthefieldofHumanitiesandiscurrentlypursuingaMaster'sdegreeinthefieldofEnglishlanguageandliterature.Herareasofinterestsincludelanguage,literature,linguisticsandculture. Comments Allballsareround. Theearthisround. Therefore,theearthisaball Reply Thisisavalidstatementbutunsoundsinceithasitsconclusiontobefalse. 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