Fill in the blanks where called for, and answer true or false where appropriate.
1. Valid arguments are said to be strong or weak.
2. Valid arguments are always good arguments.
3. Sound arguments are ________ arguments whose premises are all
________.
4. The premises of a valid argument are never false.
5. If a valid argument has a false conclusion, then not all its premises can
be true.
1. Valid arguments are said to be strong or weak. (False. Valid arguments are not categorized as strong or weak; this categorization is used for inductive arguments.)
2. Valid arguments are always good arguments. (True. Valid arguments follow the rules of logic and have premises that guarantee the truth of the conclusion.)
3. Sound arguments are ________ arguments whose premises are all ________. (Sound arguments are valid arguments whose premises are all true.)
4. The premises of a valid argument are never false. (False. The premises of a valid argument can be true or false; what matters is that if the premises are true, then the conclusion must also be true.)
5. If a valid argument has a false conclusion, then not all its premises can be true. (False. In a valid argument, if the premises are true, then the conclusion must also be true. If a valid argument has a false conclusion, it means at least one of the premises is false.)
1. Valid arguments are said to be strong or weak.
True. To determine the strength of an argument, we evaluate whether the conclusion logically follows from the premises. If it does, the argument is considered valid. However, the strength of the argument can vary. A strong argument has a high degree of logical support, while a weak argument has less convincing logical support.
2. Valid arguments are always good arguments.
False. Validity refers to the logical structure of an argument, meaning that the conclusion follows logically from the premises. However, the truth or soundness of the premises can vary. A valid argument can still have false premises, making it unsound.
3. Sound arguments are ________ arguments whose premises are all ________.
Sound arguments are valid arguments whose premises are all true. For an argument to be sound, not only must it be logically valid, but its premises must also be true. Therefore, soundness adds an additional requirement of truthfulness to the validity of an argument.
4. The premises of a valid argument are never false.
False. A valid argument can indeed have false premises. Validity only concerns the logical structure of an argument, not the truth of the premises. If an argument is valid, it means that if the premises were true, the conclusion would necessarily be true. However, one or more of the premises may still be false.
5. If a valid argument has a false conclusion, then not all its premises can be true.
True. If a valid argument has a false conclusion, it means that one or more of the premises must be false. If all the premises were true, a valid argument would guarantee a true conclusion. However, if the argument is indeed valid, the falsity of the conclusion indicates that at least one premise is false.
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