Discussion questions week 2: #2 Strong vs. Valid arguments

An argument is considered valid when the first premise and conclusion are impossible to prove wrong together. Valid arguments are not always strong arguments though because often details in between the first premise and the conclusion can be proved false which would prevent it from reaching a "strong" status.

An example of a valid argument would be: "Jessica is a performer. All performers party all night and sleep all day. Jessica parties all night and sleeps all day."

This argument would be considered valid because it's possible to prove Jessica is a performer, and we can also prove Jessica parties all night and sleeps all day. What we cannot prove however, is the statement that "All performers party all night and sleep all day." Since this middle statement cannot be proven this argument cannot be considered strong.

An argument is considered strong when the premises are viewed to be true while the conclusion may be false, although the conclusion may seem true in context.

An example of a strong argument would be: The Football players went to in-n-out after their practice, their captain, Edward, ate three double-doubles. Edward was not able to come to practice the next day because of stomach pains. Edward must have gotten sick because of in-n-out.

This argument is "strong" because the first premise is verifiable, as well as the second premise. The conclusion though is not verifiable, Edward could have gotten sick from any number of things; however likely it is that he got sick from the food.