When you are building an arument for an issue that is significant to you, do you think it is more important to be sound or valid? Please explain.

Question

Please explain your definitions of "sound" and "valid."

By many definitions, these two words are synonomous. To what differences are you referring?

A vaild argument has this chatacteristic: It is necessary , on the assumption that the premises are true, that the conclusion be true.

A sound argument has these characteristics: It is vaild, and its premises are all true.

I believe you've just answered your own question:

"A sound argument has these characteristics: It is vaild [sic], and its premises are all true."

Yes?

=)

To tell you the truth I don't know if I have or not. I have done so much reading on arguments. I have confused my self.

In your original post, you asked, "When you are building an arument for an issue that is significant to you, do you think it is more important to be sound or valid? Please explain."

Then you defined valid and sound articles:

"A vaild argument has this chatacteristic: It is necessary , on the assumption that the premises are true, that the conclusion be true.

A sound argument has these characteristics: It is vaild, and its premises are all true."

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A valid argument may or may not have a true premise. A sound argument must have a true premise.

Here's an example from recent history. Before we invaded Iraq, President Bush told us that we had to invade Iraq because it had weapons of mass destruction that he could be used against us or our allies. He ordered U.S. troops into Iraq to find and destroy these weapons and thus prevent a disastrous attack on us.

President Bush's argument was valid. If his premise were true, the conclusion was also true.

But -- Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. President Bush's argument was not sound because his premise was not true.

To come back to your original question, do you want to present a valid or a sound argument?

I think sound because the argument must be logical and you must be able to validate your reasoning.

Since this is not my area of expertise, I searched Google under the key words "sound valid argument" to get these possible sources:

http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/vocab/validity.html
http://www.wisegeek.com/in-logic-what-are-sound-and-valid-arguments.htm
Since this is not my area of expertise, I searched Google under the key words "sound valid argument" to get these possible sources:

http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/vocab/validity.html
http://www.wisegeek.com/in-logic-what-are-sound-and-valid-arguments.htm

You choice is right, but these should give you more information to back up your reasoning. I hope this helps a little more. Thanks for asking.

You choice is right, but these should give you more information to back up your reasoning.