In a valid deductive argument with true premises, is the conclusion necessarily true?

• A. Not necessarily
• B. Yes
• C. No
• D. Only if

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is that a valid deductive argument preserves truth from its premises to its conclusion. Validity means there’s no possible scenario in which all the premises are true and the conclusion is false. So if the premises are actually true, that impossible scenario can’t occur, and the conclusion must be true as well. This combination—a valid form with true premises—is what we call a sound argument, and a sound deductive argument has a necessarily true conclusion. So, yes, the conclusion is guaranteed to be true in this situation. If the premises weren’t true, validity alone wouldn’t guarantee the conclusion, which is why truth of the premises matters here.