Syllogism

Definition
• Syllogism is originally a word given by the
Greeks. Which means?‘Inference’or
‘deduction’/conclusion(inference means a
conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and
reasoning.)
• Syllogism is a form of deductive reasoning
where you arrive at a specific conclusion by
examining two other premises or ideas.
 What is syllogism
• “A syllogism is a kind of logical argument that
applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a
conclusion based on two or more propositions
that are asserted or assumed to be true.”

Wikipedia contributors. "Syllogism." Wikipedia, The Free

Encyclopedia. 7 Jun. 2015. Web. 14 Jun. 2015.
• There will be 'statements' and 'conclusions‘
• The challenge is to check whether the given
conclusions are valid to the given statements.
• A syllogism is a three-part logical argument, based
on deductive reasoning, in which two premises are
combined to arrive at a conclusion. So long as the
premises of the syllogism are true and the
syllogism is correctly structured, the conclusion
will be true.
 syllogisms contain three
components:
• Major Premise
• Minor Premise
• Conclusion
• Syllogisms consist of three things: major & minor (the
premises) and a conclusion, which follows logically from
the major and the minor and is derived from the given
statements.
• A major is a general principle.
• A minor is a specific statement.
• Logically, the conclusion follows from applying the major
to the minor.
• For example,
• all roses are flowers (major premise).
• This is a rose (minor premise).
• Therefore, I am holding a flower (conclusion).
• Example 1
• If all humans are smart (A), major
• And all Indians are humans (B’s), (minor)
• Then all Indians are smart (A) conclusion
• A syllogism is a deductive argument that has exactly two premises and
a conclusion.
• A categorical syllogism is constructed entirely out of categorical
propositions. It contains three different terms, each of which is used two
times.
• The major term is the predicate of the conclusion of a categorical
syllogism.
• The minor term is the subject of the conclusion of a categorical
syllogism.
• The middle term is the term that occurs only in the premises of a
categorical syllogism.
• Following the structure and naming convention of categorical terms, the
major premise is the first premise of a categorical syllogism. The major
premise contains the major term. The minor premise the second premise
of a categorical syllogism contains the minor term.
• In order to be a standard-form categorical syllogism, three requirements
must be met:
• 1) All three statements must be standard-form categorical propositions.
• 2) The two occurrences of each term must be identical and have the
same sense.
• 3) The major premise must occur first, the minor premise second, and
the conclusion last.
• The mood of a categorical syllogism consists of the type of categorical
propositions involved (A, E, I, or O) and the order in which they occur. The
middle term can be arranged in the two premises in four different ways. These
placements determine the figure of the categorical syllogism.

• There are six rules for standard-form categorical syllogisms:

• 1) The middle term must be distributed in at least one premise.

• 2) If a term is distributed in the conclusion, then it must be distributed in a

premise.

• 3) A categorical syllogism cannot have two negative premises.

• 4) A negative premise must have a negative conclusion.

• 5) A negative conclusion must have a negative premise.

• 6) Two universal premises cannot have a particular conclusion.

•
Rules to construct syllogism in four
figures
• There are only three terms in a syllogism (by
definition)
• The middle term is not in the conclusion (by
definition)
• The quantity of a term cannot be greater in the
conclusion. Nothing can be added in order to
derive a logical conclusion.
• The middle term must be universally quantified in at
least one premise-you cannot deduct anything from
particular observations
• At least one premise must be affirmative.
• If one premise is negative, the conclusion is negative
• If both premises are affirmative, the conclusion is
affirmative
• At least one premise must be universal
• If one premise is particular, the conclusion is particular
 The Structure of a Syllogism

• In a syllogism, the major premise is broad and wide,

like saying, "All triangles have three sides and three
interior angles." The major premise is often
a conditional statement, beginning with "If."
• The minor premise scales down that premise to
something local, exact, or familiar: "This is a three-
sided polygon." It can also be a conditional statement
beginning with "If."
• The conclusion connects the universal truth of the major
premise to the immediate example of the minor premise:
"Then this three-sided polygon is a triangle." Conclusions
often begin with "Then."
• The law of syllogism is also known as reasoning by
transitivity. It is similar to the transitive property of
equality, which says if this what sit is like that doohickey,
and that doohickey is like this thingamabob, then
this what sit is like this thingamabob:
• If a = b

• and if b = c

• then a = c

• Taking the same example from earlier and recasting the premises as
conditional statements, we could write:

• If all triangles have three sides and three interior angles,

• And if this is a three-sided polygon,

• Then this three-sided polygon is a triangle.

• The law of syllogism provides for two conditional statements ("If …")
followed by a conclusion ("Then …"). Logicians usually assign letters
to these parts of the syllogism:
 Six Rules to test Validity
• The last method is to memorise six rules using the
information presented thus far.
• Categorical syllogisms must contain exactly three
terms, no more no less (avoid Fallacy of four
terms), beware of synonyms and antonyms because
they can create the illusion of invalidity, but can
sometimes be rectified by substituting the
interchangeable terms for one choice
• If either premise is negative then the conclusion must be
negative (Affirmative conclusion from a negative
premise)
• Both promises cannot be negative
• Any term distributed in the conclusion must be
distributed in either premise
• The middle term must be distributed once and only once.
• You cannot draw a particular conclusion with two
universal premises.
 Types of syllogism
• There are three major types of syllogism:

• Conditional Syllogism: If A is true then B is true

(If A then B).

• Categorical Syllogism: If A is in C then B is in C.

• Disjunctive Syllogism: If A is true, then B is false

(A or B).
 Categorical Syllogisms
• Syllogisms make claims about groups of things, or categories. They use
statements that refer to the quantity of members of a category (all, some,
or none]) and denote membership or lack there of members of one
category in another category. These are examples of categorical
statements:

• No vegetarians are pork-chop lovers.

• Some meat eaters are not pork-chop lovers.

• Some mosquitoes are disease carriers.

• All mice are rodents.

• Syllogisms are broadly characterized as arguments with
two premises supporting the conclusion. Each premise
shares a common term with the conclusion, and the
premises share a common term (the middle term) with
each other.
• This well-known categorical syllogism refers to a specific
member of the class of “men”:
• Premise 1: All men are mortal.
Premise 2: Socrates is a man.
Conclusion: Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
 Disjunctive Syllogisms
• This type of syllogism has a “disjunction” as a
premise, that is, an “either-or” statement. Here’s
an example:

• Premise 1: Either my pet is a dog, or my pet is a

cat.
Premise 2: My pet is not a cat.
Conclusion: Therefore, my pet is a dog.
 Hypothetical Syllogisms
• A hypothetical statement is an “if-then” statement. Hypothetical

statements have two components:

• The “if” portion is referred to as the antecedent. It is the

precipitating factor.

• The “then” portion is called the consequent. It is the resulting

condition.

• A pure hypothetical syllogism has two hypothetical premises.

Here’s an example:
• Premise 1: If it rains on Sunday, then the show will be
canceled.
Premise 2: If the show is canceled, then the band will go
to the movies.
Conclusion: Thus, If it rains on Sunday, the band will go
to the movies.

• The next two common argument forms use a hypothetical

statement as one of the premises.
 FALLACIES
• Introduction

• The purpose of Logic is to give us valid principles of thinking. Thinking must

be done correctly if we are to get conclusions. This is done when thought

conforms to the laws of systematic reasoning. The function of logic is only to

give us the rules of standards for right thinking. Not only should we know

positively what is right, we should also know negatively what is wrong. Such

wrong inferences are known as fallacies. A fallacy may be defined as a

conclusion resulting from thought which claims to be valid but which violates

the principles of reasoning. As we have already seen, thinking always proceeds

in two ways.
• We have general, universal judgments' from which we
argue about the truth of a particular. We include the
particular statement under the universal. This type off
reasoning we have called deduction. We deduce the truth
of the particular from the given universal. The other way
of thinking is known as Induction where are arrive at a
universal truth as a result of such observation. Both these
form of thinking are governed by laws. When these laws
are violated, we have fallacies. We shall examine the
fallacies of deductive reasoning first.
 Conclusion
• We have come to the close of our study of the fundamentals of logic.
The nature of thought, the principle that govern its processes, the
mistakes in reasoning that we most commonly make when we stray
away from the path of truth-these and other related topics have been
discussed. Thinking is what each one of us is intimately concerned
with. Even without our knowledge we employ logical principles in our
daily conversation and arguments. The science of logic appears
difficult and strange at first. But when once its principles are
understood, we realize that we have been using them, however
imperfectly, in our commonest thoughts and expression.
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