Distinguishing between a strong argument and a valid argument may seem complicated, but they are used all the time and apply to the concept of making a good argument. In a valid argument, it is not possible for the conclusion to be false if the evidence of the argument is actually true. For instance, Bob is a basketball player. All basketball players are tall. So Bob is tall. My example shows that this is a valid argument because there is no way that the premises are true and the conclusion could be false at the same time. Even though the conclusion is true, it makes for a valid but bad argument because there have been some short basketball players.
A strong argument has a true conclusion to go along with its true premises. An example of a strong argument is from the other day when I was at work at P.F. Chang's. The customer said, "Every time I eat shellfish lately I feel ill. It can't be any of the sauce you use, because the other day I had shellfish at home I got sick. I must have a shellfish allergy." This is a strong, and good argument because I knew the customer was not lying since I had to guide her to a shellfish-free meal. However, it is not valid because this lady may have had some virus which reacts with shellfish to make you feel worse.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you that strong and valid arguments are sometimes complicated. It was a bit difficult at first when I was coming up ideas for my examples. I like your example for a valid argument because it simple and seems that you came up with that example like in a few second. I can’t believe that I spent about ten to fifteen minutes on my post coming up examples on both strong vs valid argument. Your strong argument is pretty good as well because it was detail. I know how strong and valid argument works although not that well; I am not sure about some parts. After reading this helps me get the ideas of both concept more.
I also agree that differentiating strong and valid arguments can be complicated. You gave a clear explanation about what each was. I enjoyed your example of a valid argument. Using a sports related argument is easily related to. I agree that it is valid and yet bad argument because of what you said about short basketball players. If we know that Bob is a basketball player and that he is tall, so we know that it is impossible for the conclusion to be false while the premise is true. Your example of your strong argument was also good. Your explanation of how the conclusion could be false was clear and made perfect sense, though it could have been unlikely.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well that valid and strong arguments are hard to distinguished. I like your example of using the tall basketball player. This a valid argument because we don't know if all the premises are true and the conclusion could be false as well. We all know that not all basketball players are tall. The argument is a valid but weak argument. Your next argument was a strong argument because the premises and conclusion were true. The shell fish could have caused the person illness since the person ate the shellfish without the sauce. Although unlikely, the person may have had a virus which then makes the argument invalid.
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