Practice question · Put in order
Arrange these steps in the order you would use to evaluate an argument.
- Identify the conclusion being argued for
- Identify the premises offered in support
- Then ask separately whether the premises are actually true
- If that combination is impossible, the argument is valid
- Test whether the conclusion could fail while everything offered in support holds
Hints
- You cannot assess support before knowing what is being supported.
- Validity is settled before, and independently of, the truth of the premises.
Show the answer
- Identify the conclusion being argued for
- Identify the premises offered in support
- Test whether the conclusion could fail while everything offered in support holds
- If that combination is impossible, the argument is valid
- Then ask separately whether the premises are actually true
Why
Structure first, then validity, then truth. Keeping the last two steps separate is the whole discipline, collapsing them is what produces "that argument is invalid because I disagree with the premise".
Practise Arguments, Validity and Soundness
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Philosophy I is free to start.
More questions on Arguments, Validity and Soundness
- An argument has all false premises and a false conclusion, yet it is impossible for the premises to be true…
- Of the four classic conditional argument forms — modus ponens, modus tollens, affirming the consequent,…
- Logic isolates whether a conclusion follows from its premises from whether those premises are true. What does…
- Which statements about validity are correct?
- Sort each argument by whether it is deductive or inductive.
- Match each term to its precise meaning.