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Philosophy vocabulary · Logic and Argument

Counterexample

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/ˈkaʊntərɪɡˌzɑːmpəl/nounCore term

In philosophy, counterexample means: A particular case showing that a general claim or definition is false, or an example with true premises and a false conclusion showing that an argument form is invalid.

In Turkish: karşı örnek

How it is used

A key tool of analytic philosophy: someone proposes a definition (knowledge is justified true belief) and others search for counterexamples. You give, offer or find a counterexample, and a theory survives it or falls to it.

Example sentences

  1. Gettier offered two short counterexamples to the view that justified true belief is knowledge.

  2. One clear counterexample is enough to refute a universal claim.

Common collocations

  • offer a counterexample
  • decisive counterexample
  • immune to counterexamples
  • counterexample to a definition
  • objectionA reason given against a claim, theory or argument, suggesting that it may be false, unclear or badly supported.
  • thought experimentAn imagined scenario used to test a theory or to bring out our intuitions, without carrying out any real experiment.
  • validDescribes an argument whose form guarantees that if all the premises are true, the conclusion must be true as well.
  • claimA statement that someone puts forward as true and is ready to defend, often the main point that an essay or argument tries to support.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Logic and Argument

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