What Is a Sound Argument?

Have you ever wanted to disagree with someone’s argument, but you couldn’t find any flaw in it? It’s possible you were facing a sound argument.

An argument is a series of statements that try to prove a point. The statement that the arguer tries to prove is called the conclusion. The statements that try to prove the conclusion are called premises.

Here’s a sample argument:

Premise 1: If it is raining, then the street is wet.

Premise 2: It is raining.

Conclusion: Therefore, the street is wet.

Above is an example of a series of statements that counts as an argument since it has a premise and conclusion. That’s all it takes for something to be an argument: it needs to have a premise and a conclusion.

A sound argument proves the arguer’s point by providing decisive evidence for the truth of their conclusion.

A sound argument has two features:

1. The argument has a valid form, and
2. All the premises are true.

I’m going to talk about these points in order. To understand the valid form, we need to understand the logical form of an argument and the logical form of a statement.

What Is an Argument’s Logical Form?