Question

Suppose that one of the premises in an argument is a contradiction. What must be true of the argument?

a) The argument cannot be valid.
b) The argument must be valid, and might be sound.
c) The argument must be valid, but can't be sound.
d) The argument might be valid, but only if the conclusion is true.
e) The argument's premises must be inconsistent.

Answer 1

The argument must be valid but can't be sound.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct answer is c) The argument must be valid but can't be sound.

An argument is valid if the conclusion logically follows from the premises, regardless of whether the premises are true or false. If one of the premises in an argument is a contradiction, it means that the premises cannot all be true at the same time. However, the argument can still be valid if the reasoning is valid, and the conclusion follows logically from the premises.

For example, consider the argument:

• Premise 1: It is raining.
• Premise 2: It is not raining.
• Conclusion: Therefore, it is both raining and not raining.

This argument is valid because the conclusion follows logically from the contradicting premises. However, it is not sound because the premises are contradictory and cannot both be true at the same time.