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05 / 06
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What Makes a Good Deductive Argument?

The One Minute Apologist with William Lane Craig

Time : 00:01:21

Special Guest Dr. William Lane Craig returns and answers the question, "What makes a good deductive argument?" Part 1 of 2.

Watch this exciting episode and grab a copy of Dr. Craig's new book "On Guard" to learn more about this and other arguments on how to defend your faith with reason and precision.

Transcript

Bobby Conway: Dr. Craig, what makes a good logical argument?

Dr. Craig: Well, what makes for a good deductive argument, I would say, is three factors. First of all, the premises of the argument have to be true. Secondly, the conclusion needs to follow from the premises by the rules of logic. And then thirdly, the premises need to have some sort of warrant, some sort of reason or evidence for us to know that they are true.

And so, I would say that in light of all that we know, in light of the evidence, the premises need to be more plausible than their opposites, their negations. So long as the premises are more plausible than their negations, then the rational man will believe in the premise rather than its opposite. So, those three factors would give us a good deductive argument for some conclusion: true premises, valid logical reasoning, and premises that are more plausible than their opposites.