Which one of the following statements most accurately characterizes a difference between the two passages?
ourhairdefiesgravityon July 14, 2020
valid and sound
Is it possible that the argument in example 2, the Sue chronicles, valid but unsound? When you say the argument is flawed, is it now invalid because it is flawed?
Reply
Create a free account to read and
take part in forum discussions.
Thanks for the question! So to recap: an argument is valid when, if the premises are true, the pieces connect together in a way that the conclusion follows logically from the premises. So as long as the logic is sound, the argument is valid.
An argument is sound when it is valid and all of its premises are true. On the LSAT, we assume that the premises in the question are true. And so you’ll never really need to know if an argument is valid but unsound; for the most part, we will only need to think about whether an argument is valid or not. If an argument is flawed in some way related to its logic (for example, a mistaken reversal or negation), then that argument is invalid. If it’s another kind of flaw, such as failing to consider some possibility, then the argument isn’t necessarily invalid. Luckily, we’ll never be asked on the LSAT whether or not an argument is valid/sound or not, so you won’t need to worry too much about these cases.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.
