Fundamentals: Truth and validity

67문장 0% 스페인어 번역 0명 참여 출처 : 칸아카데미

Fundamentals: Truth and validity

(intro music) Hi! My name is Julianne Chung, and I am a graduate student at Yale University.

Today, I am going to talk about truth and validity.

There are many different good qualities that arguments can have.

For example, they can be clear, they can be interesting, they can be persuasive, and so on.

In this video, however, we are going to discuss just two good qualities that arguments can have that are particularly important for determining whether we should accept their conclusions.

The first is this: the premises of an argument may be true, that is, they may be in agreement with the facts.

In philosophy, truth and falsity are held to be properties of statements, but not arguments.

Second, an argument may be valid.

An argument is valid when its conclusion follows logically from its premises.

In other words, an argument is valid just in case the truth of its premises guarantees the truth of its conclusion.

In philosophy, validity and invalidity are held to be properties of arguments, but not statements.

To see the difference between these properties, it will be helpful to look at some examples, all of which involve my good friend Julia's dog, Split.

This is an example of an argument that has true premises and is valid.

Premise (1): All Australian Shepherds are dogs.

Premise (2): Split is an Australian Shepherd.

Conclusion: Therefore, Split is a dog.

In this argument, not only are the premises true, but the conclusion follows logically from them.

Next is an example of an argument that has true premises but is not valid.

Premise (2): All cats are animals.

Conclusion: Therefore, all cats are dogs.

Here, the premises are obviously true, but the conclusion does not follow logically from them.

Of course, this argument is clearly unacceptable, because its conclusion is obviously false.

However, sometimes arguments can have true premises, as well as true conclusions, but still be invalid because the conclusions do not follow logically from them.

Here is an example of such a case.

Premise (1): All dogs are animals.

Premise (2): All Australian Shepherds are animals.

Conclusion: Therefore, all Australian Shepherds are dogs.

Because of this, it is important that we are careful to ensure that the conclusion really does follow from the premises under consideration when we are evaluating an argument.

We are now going to look at an argument with at least one false premise that is valid.

Premise (1): You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Premise (2): Split is an old dog.

Conclusion: Therefore, you can't teach Split new tricks.

Here, the first premise is false, but the reasoning is valid, because the conclusion follows logically from the premises.

Notice, too, that just as in the last example, the conclusion of this argument may happen to be true, although the argument does not establish that it is. Alright, just one more example.

This argument has at least one false premise and is invalid.

Premise (1): I like Split.

Premise (2): Training dogs is easy.

Conclusion: Therefore, I'll win a lot of awards for teaching Split how to roll over.

In this example, not only is premise two false, but the conclusion does not follow logically from the premises.

You've probably already noticed that truth and falsity, as well as validity and invalidity, can appear in various combinations in an argument, giving rise to four possibilities.

Let's take a moment to review them together.

Possibility one: we may have our facts right, our premises are true, and we may use them properly. Our reasoning is valid.

Possibility two: we may have our facts right, our premises are true, and we may use them improperly. Our reasoning is invalid.

Possibility three: we may have our facts wrong, some of our premises are false, and we may use them properly. Our reasoning is valid.

And finally, possibility four: we may have our facts wrong, some of our premises are false, and we may use them improperly. Our reasoning is invalid.

When we are evaluating an argument, we should only accept its conclusions if the first possibility obtains.

Philosophers call such arguments "sound arguments."

Because of this, you might be wondering why we should be at all interested in arguments that are valid, but whose premises are false?

One answer is that we are often not in a position to know whether our premises are true.

But being able to validly infer the conclusions that would follow from such premises if they were true sometimes enables us to judge whether they are true.

This is because validly inferring a conclusion that we know to be false from a given set of premises will tell us that one of our premises must be false too.

After all, a false conclusion cannot validly be deduced from true premises. Consider the following example.

Say that John calls his boss at work one day, and tells her that he is in bed with a terrible case of the flu.

His boss, it seems, could use that information to construct the following argument.

Premise (1): John is in bed with a terrible case of the flu.

Premise (2): If john is in bed with a terrible case of the flu, then he is not bowling.

Conclusion: Therefore, John is not bowling. This argument is valid.

Its conclusion follows logically from its premises.

So, if John's boss were to see him bowling, what could she conclude?

Premise (2) seems untouched by this bit of evidence.

Premise (1), however, is in danger.

She could conclude that John is not in bed with a terrible case of the flu. It seems he lied.

This is, of course, just a very simple example.

That said, hopefully it suffices to show that we often use reasoning like this to figure out whether claims are true or false.

Thus, it is indeed often very useful for us to know whether an argument is valid, even if we don't know whether its premises are true.

For more information about truth, validity, and soundness, I highly recommend checking out Paul's video on validity and Aaron's video on soundness.

번역 0%

Fundamentals: Truth and validity발음듣기

(intro music) Hi! My name is Julianne Chung, and I am a graduate student at Yale University.발음듣기

Today, I am going to talk about truth and validity.발음듣기

There are many different good qualities that arguments can have.발음듣기

For example, they can be clear, they can be interesting, they can be persuasive, and so on.발음듣기

In this video, however, we are going to discuss just two good qualities that arguments can have that are particularly important for determining whether we should accept their conclusions.발음듣기

The first is this: the premises of an argument may be true, that is, they may be in agreement with the facts.발음듣기

In philosophy, truth and falsity are held to be properties of statements, but not arguments.발음듣기

Second, an argument may be valid.발음듣기

An argument is valid when its conclusion follows logically from its premises.발음듣기

In other words, an argument is valid just in case the truth of its premises guarantees the truth of its conclusion.발음듣기

In philosophy, validity and invalidity are held to be properties of arguments, but not statements.발음듣기

To see the difference between these properties, it will be helpful to look at some examples, all of which involve my good friend Julia's dog, Split.발음듣기

This is an example of an argument that has true premises and is valid.발음듣기

Premise (1): All Australian Shepherds are dogs.발음듣기

Premise (2): Split is an Australian Shepherd.발음듣기

Conclusion: Therefore, Split is a dog.발음듣기

In this argument, not only are the premises true, but the conclusion follows logically from them.발음듣기

Next is an example of an argument that has true premises but is not valid.발음듣기

Premise (2): All cats are animals.발음듣기

Conclusion: Therefore, all cats are dogs.발음듣기

Here, the premises are obviously true, but the conclusion does not follow logically from them.발음듣기

Of course, this argument is clearly unacceptable, because its conclusion is obviously false.발음듣기

However, sometimes arguments can have true premises, as well as true conclusions, but still be invalid because the conclusions do not follow logically from them.발음듣기

Here is an example of such a case.발음듣기

Premise (1): All dogs are animals.발음듣기

Premise (2): All Australian Shepherds are animals.발음듣기

Conclusion: Therefore, all Australian Shepherds are dogs.발음듣기

Because of this, it is important that we are careful to ensure that the conclusion really does follow from the premises under consideration when we are evaluating an argument.발음듣기

We are now going to look at an argument with at least one false premise that is valid.발음듣기

Premise (1): You can't teach an old dog new tricks.발음듣기

Premise (2): Split is an old dog.발음듣기

Conclusion: Therefore, you can't teach Split new tricks.발음듣기

Here, the first premise is false, but the reasoning is valid, because the conclusion follows logically from the premises.발음듣기

Notice, too, that just as in the last example, the conclusion of this argument may happen to be true, although the argument does not establish that it is. Alright, just one more example.발음듣기

This argument has at least one false premise and is invalid.발음듣기

Premise (1): I like Split.발음듣기

Premise (2): Training dogs is easy.발음듣기

Conclusion: Therefore, I'll win a lot of awards for teaching Split how to roll over.발음듣기

In this example, not only is premise two false, but the conclusion does not follow logically from the premises.발음듣기

You've probably already noticed that truth and falsity, as well as validity and invalidity, can appear in various combinations in an argument, giving rise to four possibilities.발음듣기

Let's take a moment to review them together.발음듣기

Possibility one: we may have our facts right, our premises are true, and we may use them properly. Our reasoning is valid.발음듣기

Possibility two: we may have our facts right, our premises are true, and we may use them improperly. Our reasoning is invalid.발음듣기

Possibility three: we may have our facts wrong, some of our premises are false, and we may use them properly. Our reasoning is valid.발음듣기

And finally, possibility four: we may have our facts wrong, some of our premises are false, and we may use them improperly. Our reasoning is invalid.발음듣기

When we are evaluating an argument, we should only accept its conclusions if the first possibility obtains.발음듣기

Philosophers call such arguments "sound arguments."발음듣기

Because of this, you might be wondering why we should be at all interested in arguments that are valid, but whose premises are false?발음듣기

One answer is that we are often not in a position to know whether our premises are true.발음듣기

But being able to validly infer the conclusions that would follow from such premises if they were true sometimes enables us to judge whether they are true.발음듣기

This is because validly inferring a conclusion that we know to be false from a given set of premises will tell us that one of our premises must be false too.발음듣기

After all, a false conclusion cannot validly be deduced from true premises. Consider the following example.발음듣기

Say that John calls his boss at work one day, and tells her that he is in bed with a terrible case of the flu.발음듣기

His boss, it seems, could use that information to construct the following argument.발음듣기

Premise (1): John is in bed with a terrible case of the flu.발음듣기

Premise (2): If john is in bed with a terrible case of the flu, then he is not bowling.발음듣기

Conclusion: Therefore, John is not bowling. This argument is valid.발음듣기

Its conclusion follows logically from its premises.발음듣기

So, if John's boss were to see him bowling, what could she conclude?발음듣기

Premise (2) seems untouched by this bit of evidence.발음듣기

Premise (1), however, is in danger.발음듣기

She could conclude that John is not in bed with a terrible case of the flu. It seems he lied.발음듣기

This is, of course, just a very simple example.발음듣기

That said, hopefully it suffices to show that we often use reasoning like this to figure out whether claims are true or false.발음듣기

Thus, it is indeed often very useful for us to know whether an argument is valid, even if we don't know whether its premises are true.발음듣기

For more information about truth, validity, and soundness, I highly recommend checking out Paul's video on validity and Aaron's video on soundness.발음듣기

Top