Quote image editor
“Philosophical arguments are either valid or invalid. They aren’t true – or false for that matter. Only the premises (and the conclusion), which are factual claims about the world, can be true or false. Confusingly perhaps, a philosophical argument can be valid even if its premises are false. Philosophers call such arguments valid but “unsound.” Informal, everyday arguments tend to mix up premises and conclusions, and often in the process the distinction between true facts based on evidence and not necessarily true opinions (conclusions) based on reasoning gets lost.” — Martin Cohen
Philosophical arguments are either valid or invalid. They aren’t true – or false for that matter. Only the premises (and the conclusion), which are factual claims about the world, can be true or false. Confusingly perhaps, a philosophical argument can be valid even if its premises are false. Philosophers call such arguments valid but “unsound.” Informal, everyday arguments tend to mix up premises and conclusions, and often in the process the distinction between true facts based on evidence and not necessarily true opinions (conclusions) based on reasoning gets lost.