Soundness

A deductive argument is sound if (and only if) it meets two conditions.

  1. It is valid.
  2. The premises are true.

A valid argument with true premises is guaranteed to have a true conclusion. This means sound arguments are very useful.

We will return to sound arguments in detail later, when we learn more about assessing truth in chapter 5. For the moment you should simply be aware that a sound argument is a valid argument with true premises.

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How to think critically by Stephanie Gibbons and Justine Kingsbury is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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