Syllogism

A syllogism is a systematic representation of a single logical inference. It has three parts: a major
premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. The parts are defined this way:
 The major premise contains a term from the predicate of the conclusion
 The minor premise contains a term from the subject of the conclusion
 The conclusion combines major and minor premise

VALID SYLLOGISM
A valid syllogism is one in which the conclusion must be true when each of the two premises is
true. An example of a valid syllogism is: All M is P, All S is M, All S is P;
There are 256 syllogisms in which there are 24 valid syllogisms, 24 invalid, and 208 neither
valid nor invalid. The valid and invalid syllogisms have the same premises, and their
conclusions are contradictory to each other.

Unconditionally valid
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

AAA AEE AII

AEE
EAE EAE IAI
IAI
AII EIO OAO
EIO
EIO AOO EIO

Conditionally valid
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

AAI AEO
AEO
EAO EAO

AAI
EAO
EAO

AAI

1. All mammals are creatures that have hair.

2. All cats are mammals.
3. Therefore, all cats are creatures that have hair.
Its mood is “AAA” since all three propositions are “A” propositions ( form “All S are P”). Its
figure is “figure 1” since the middle term appears on the left and then on the right.
Now we can look up “figure 1 – AAA” in the chart above. If it DOES APPEAR on the chart,
then the argument is valid from. If it DOES NOT APPEAR on the
chart, then it is invalid from. Since “figure 1 – AAA” DOES
appear on the chart, the argument is valid
1. All mammals are creatures that have hair.
2. All cats are mammals.
3. Therefore, some cats are creatures that have hair.
This argument is an “AAI” argument with “figure 1”. This argument does NOT appear on the
“unconditionally valid”, because it goes from universal premises to a particular conclusion
(which DOES have existential import), and this sort of inference commits the existential fallacy
according

AAA-1
All M are P. All S are M. Therefore, All S are P.
All men are mortal.
All Pakistanis are men.
∴ All Pakistanis are mortal.
AOO-2
All P are M. Some S are not M. Therefore, Some S are not P.
All informative things are useful.
Some websites are not useful.
∴ Some websites are not informative
OAO-3
Some M are not P. All M are S. Therefore, Some S are not P.
Some sheep have no tails.
All sheep are mammals.
Some mammals have no tails.
AEE-4
All P are M. No M are S. Therefore, No S are P.

INVALID SYLLOGISM
An invalid syllogism is one in which the conclusions must be false when each of the two
premises is true, a neither valid nor invalid syllogism is one in which the conclusion either can be
true or can be false when each of the two premises is true.
An example of an invalid syllogism is: All M is P, Some S is M , No S is P a an example of a
neither valid nor invalid syllogism is: All P is M, All S is M, Some S is not P.
The S is called the minor term, the 'P' the major term, and the 'A the middle term. The 'S' term
must always appear in the second premise and conclusion, and the 'P' term in the first premise
and conclusion. 'Some M is P and 'All S is P' are called affirmative, and 'Some S is not P and 'No
S is P negative.
AAA-3
All M are P, All M are S, Therefore All S are P.

EOO-2
No P are M, Some S are not M, Therefore Some S are not P.

IOO-1
Some M are P, Some S are not M, Therefore Some S are not P.

Rules of Syllogism
There are six rules of syllogism. However, they mainly apply to categorical syllogism, since that
is the only category that requires three components: major premise, minor premise, conclusion.

Rule 1: Three categorical terms

There must be three terms: the major premise, the minor premise, and the conclusion - no more,
no less A syllogism is said to be valid which must have exactly three categorical terms, and their
sense mustn't vary over the other syllogism. A fallacy occurs when a term is used in a different
way within the course of an argument. So, for example
All lovers are horny
God is love
Therefore, God is horny

commits the fallacy of equivocation, because the word "love" is being used in different senses in
the first two premises (and indeed arguably has no precise meaning at all in the second premise).

Rule 2: A distributed middle term

The middle term of a valid syllogism is distributed in at least one of the premises. The fallacy of
the undistributed middle occurs when this doesn't happen. For example, the middle term
(dangerous animals) in this syllogism
All dogs are dangerous animals
Some dangerous animals are cats
Therefore, dogs are cats
isn't distributed, and the argument is clearly invalid.

Rule 3: If a term is distributed in the conclusion, it must be distributed in the

premises
A conclusion that states something about a 2 premise must be supported by a premise that does
the same thing. For example:

All Protestants are Christians

No Catholics are Protestants
Therefore, no Catholics are Christians

doesn't work, because the term "Christians" is distributed in the conclusion, but not in the
(major) premise.

The fallacy of illicit major occurs (as above) when the major term is distributed in the
conclusion, but not in the (major) premise. The fallacy of illicit minor occurs when the minor
term is distributed in the conclusion, but not in the (minor) premise.

Rule 4: A valid syllogism can't have two negative premises

The fallacy of exclusive premises occurs when a syllogism has two premises that are negative. A
negative premise is either an E statement ("No S are P") or an "O" statement ("Some S are not
P"), and if you've got two of them in your premises, your syllogism isn't valid.

Rule 5: The conclusion of a syllogism must be negative, if either premise is

negative
The fallacy of drawing an affirmative conclusion from a negative premise occurs if this rule is
violated. Similarly, if a conclusion is negative, then one of the premises must be negative.

Rule 6: No particular conclusion can be drawn from two universal premises

An existential fallacy occurs whenever a particular conclusion appears with two universal
premises (for example, All M are P, All S are M, Therefore, some S are P).