Strong Vs. Valid Argument

When I first started to read Chapter 3 about “What Is a Good Argument?” I thought that this chapter would be easy. At first the terms were confusing, but started to make sense. At first the terms were pretty complex considering that a valid argument doesn’t necessarily have to be a good argument. When I think of valid, I think of the argument as reasonable and being susceptible to being correct. A valid argument should hold no reason for doubt in its premises and conclusion. The text also states that a valid argument can’t have a premise that is true while the conclusion false at the same time. (Epstein) So the premise has to be true and the conclusion has to be true. According to the text, a strong argument is an argument that has the possibility of being false, but the premises make it very unlikely to be incorrect. An example of an everyday valid argument would be “Everyone who rides a bike on campus has to pedal the bike so that they can get to class. I have a bike so I have to pedal to get to class.” This is a valid statement because the premise is true and the conclusion is not false. Also there is no possible way that someone can get to class on campus their bike without pedaling. An example of an everyday strong argument would be “I have never seen or heard of a mountain taller than Mount Everest.” This type of question often occurs in the science classroom. A question that address whether something has been discovered or not. Although it maybe be possible that there is some mountain in the world or even in this Universe that is taller than Everest, it is highly unlikely.