validity

validity
/veuh lid"i tee/, n.
1. the state or quality of being valid: to question the validity of the argument.
2. legal soundness or force.
[1540-50; < LL validitas, equiv. to L valid(us) VALID + -itas- -ITY]

* * *

In logic, the property of an argument consisting in the fact that the truth of the premises logically guarantees the truth of the conclusion.

Whenever the premises are true, the conclusion must be true, because of the form of the argument. Some arguments that fail to be valid are acceptable on grounds other than formal logic (e.g., inductively strong arguments), and their conclusions are supported with less than logical necessity. Where the support yields high probability of the conclusion relative to the premises, such arguments are sometimes called inductively valid. In other purportedly persuasive arguments, the premises actually provide no rational grounds for accepting the conclusion; such defective forms of argument are called fallacies (see fallacy, formal and informal).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • validity — va‧lid‧i‧ty [vəˈlɪdti] noun [uncountable] LAW when a document is legally acceptable: • The shareholder group may question the legal validity of the merger in court. ˈface ˌvalidity STATISTICS figures, results, or data with face validity appear… …   Financial and business terms

  • Validity — Va*lid i*ty, n. [Cf. F. validit[ e], L. validitas strength.] [1913 Webster] 1. The quality or state of being valid; strength; force; especially, power to convince; justness; soundness; as, the validity of an argument or proof; the validity of an… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • validity — I noun authenticity, authority, correctness, force, forcefulness, genuineness, gravitas, lawfulness, legal force, legality, legitimacy, legitimateness, meritoriousness, pondus, potency, power, puissance, reality, realness, significance, soundness …   Law dictionary

  • validity — 1550s, from M.Fr. validité, from L. validitatem (nom. validitas) strength, from validus (see VALID (Cf. valid)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • validity — [n] genuineness, lawfulness authority, cogency, effectiveness, efficacy, force, foundation, gravity, grounds, legality, legitimacy, persuasiveness, point, potency, power, punch, right, soundness, strength, substance, validness, weight; concept… …   New thesaurus

  • validity — [və lid′ə tē] n. pl. validities [Fr validité < L validitas, strength] the state, quality, or fact of being valid in law or in argument, proof, authority, etc …   English World dictionary

  • validity — The property of being genuine, a true reflection of attitudes, behaviour, or characteristics. A measure (such as a question, series of questions, or test) is considered valid if it is thought to measure the concept or property which it claims to… …   Dictionary of sociology

  • validity — noun ADJECTIVE ▪ great ▪ equal ▪ Don t you think that both views have equal validity? ▪ doubtful, dubious, questionable ▪ …   Collocations dictionary

  • validity — Legal sufficiency, in contradistinction to mere regularity @ validity of a treaty The term validity, as applied to treaties, admits of two descriptions necessary and voluntary. By the former is meant that which results from the treaties having… …   Black's law dictionary

  • Validity — The term validity (also called logical truth, analytic truth, or necessary truth) as it occurs in logic refers generally to a property of particular statements and deductive arguments. Although validity and logical truth are synonymous concepts,… …   Wikipedia

  • validity — [[t]vəlɪdɪti[/t]] N UNCOUNT: usu the N of n The validity of something such as a result or a piece of information is whether it can be trusted or believed. → See also valid Shocked by the results of the elections, they now want to challenge the… …   English dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”