Thursday, February 11, 2010
Strong vs Valid Arguments
An argument is considered strong if there is a way for it's premises to be true and its conclusion be false at the same time even though it is unlikely. An argument is considered valid if it is not possible for its premises to be true and the conclusion false at the same time. It is hard to compare the two kinds of arguments but sometimes, a strong argument that has premises that are true is better than a valid argument with the same exact conclusion. An example of this could be: Most of the basketball players I have seen are more than six feet tall. Therefore, every basketball player is more than six feet tall. That is an example of a strong argument. An example of a valid argument would be: Every basketball player is over six feet tall. Therefore, anyone that plays basketball is over six feet tall. This is a good example of a strong argument with premises that are true being better than a valid argument even though they have pretty much the same conclusion.
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hey! i agree with how you mentioned that "a strong argument that has premises that are true is better than a valid argument with the same exact conclusion." i also like how your examples are related to each other because it helps the readers better understand the concept of an argument being either strong or valid. using similar examples that relate to each other allows us to compare the two to differentiate whether that particular argument is considered to be strong or valid. Sometimes it is difficult to know the difference when reading examples, but having both examples being about similar instances is helpful to distinguish between the two concepts.
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