Soundness
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This article is about the soundness notion of informal logic. For soundness in mathematical logic, see soundness theorem.
A logical argument is sound if and only if
A proof procedure (e.g. natural deduction) for a logic is sound if it proves only valid formulas (also tautologies). Formally: a system is sound when if "
", then also "
".
[edit] Sound arguments
Suppose we have a sound argument (in this case a syllogism):
- All men are mortal.
- Socrates is a man.
- Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
The argument is valid and since the premises are in fact true, the argument is sound.
The following argument is valid but not sound:
- All animals can fly.
- Pigs are animals.
- Therefore, pigs can fly.
Since the first premise is actually false, the argument, though valid, is not sound.
[edit] References
- Irving Copi. Symbolic Logic, Vol. 5, Macmillian Publishing Co., 1979.
- Boolos, Burgess, Jeffrey. Computability and Logic, Vol. 4, Cambridge, 2002.
