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Sound, Valid, True: Difference between revisions
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=== "Sound," "Valid" and "True" ===
In logic, "sound", "valid", and "true" ''are not synonymous''. The premises and conclusion can be "true" or "false"; the chain of reasoning itself can be "valid" or "invalid"; the argument as a whole is either "sound" or "unsound".
"Truth" refers to the factual accuracy of each individual premise and the conclusion. It's exactly what it sounds like, but ''it does not address the validity of the logic''.
{{quote|All dogs are animals. (True premise / All A are X.)
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The argument as a whole is unsound.
"Validity" refers to the chain of reasoning, the logical part of the argument. An argument is valid only if it is impossible for all of the premises to be true and for the conclusion to be false. ''It does not rely on the truth of the premises or of the conclusion.''
{{quote|[[All Animals Are Dogs|All animals are dogs.]] (False premise / All A are B.)<br />
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This is what is called a ''strong'' inductive argument: more likely to be true than false. It's invalid: we only know that Brahim is Moroccan<ref>And male -- from his name -- but let's ignore that</ref>. Brahim could be one of the 1.1% of Moroccans who are Christian, or one of the 0.2% of Moroccans who are Jewish. Nevertheless, it is highly likely, given no data about Brahim other than that he is Moroccan, that Brahim is in fact Muslim. If Brahim is in fact Muslim, then the argument becomes ''cogent'': not only strong, but true.
Theoretically, the dividing line between strong and weak inductive arguments is at 50%: at anything above 50%, the argument is strong. This can be a bit counterintuitive:
{{quote|[[Gender Blender Name|Alex]] is human.<br />
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Logic Tropes]]
[[Category:Logical Fallacies]]
[[Category:Sound, Valid, True]]
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