Re: Logic Fundamentals (was: Re: Re[2]: [tied] PIE word for "people

At 7:15:06 PM on Friday, September 30, 2005, glen gordon
wrote:

> Brian:
>> No, in this matter Patrick is correct. Validity is
>> not a property of statements (= propositions), but
>> rather of arguments (= chains of inference);
>> similarly, truth is not a property of arguments,
>> but rather of statements.

> You say that validity is a property of arguments and
> not statements while truth is a property of statements
> but not arguments. Yet, you're basically saying that
> validity and truth show a complementary distribution
> between argument and statement. Do you wish to prove
> the distinction between statement and argument?

There's nothing to prove: it's a matter of definition.

> So in all, I would say that the distinction between
> statement and argument, or that between truth and
> validity, is unnecessary.

Hardly, since the following argument is valid:

All giraffes are pink with purple polka-dots.
gLeN is a giraffe.
Therefore gLeN is pink with purple polka-dots.

It seems likely that none of the individual statements is
true, however.

Brian