Syllogisms PDF

Syllogism

Syllogism is the process whereby the ideas of (3) Particular affirmativeIf a proposi-tion
a man are logically expressed. commences with Some then such a particular
A sentence necessarily consists of a statement is grouped under particular affirmative.
(1) Subject As Some boys are good
(2) Predicate
(3) Copula Universal Subject Copula Predicate
affirmative
As Boys are good term
(4) Particular negativeWhen a proposi-
Subject Copula Predicate tion starts with Some not then such a founda-
tional premise is kept under the category of parti-
The given illustration will be said to be
cular negative.
syllogistic when All, No, Some and Some not is
added in the beginning of it. As
There are four types of logical propositions Some boys are not good
(1) Universal affirmative
(2) Universal negative Subject Copula Predicate
(3) Particular affirmative
(4) Particular negative
(1) Universal affirmativeThe foundatio-
nal premise beginning with All is classed as
universal affirmative.
As All the boys are good Particular negative term

Universal Subject Copula Predicate Serial Beginning Indi- Qua- Cate-
affirmative num- term of the cative lity gory
term ber foundational Term
premise
(2) Universal negativeWhen a proposi-tion 1 All A Affir- Univer-
begins with No then such a foundational premise mative sal
is categorised as universal negative. 2 No E Nega- Univer-
As No boy is good tive sal
3 Some I Affir- Particu
mative -lar
Universal Subject Copula Predicate
negative 4 Some not O Nega- Particu
term tive -lar

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 Syllogisms PDF

A pair of two foundational premises can be As

arranged in four figures. In order to arrange these
All boys are good players.
paired foundational premises on the basis of their
figures. It is very essential to remember the All good payers are students.
following sentence in English. On having learnt
this sentence you too can arrange any two
foundational premises in their figures.
at predicate at subject
Spirits Oppressed the psalmists
1 2 3 4
(1) S P SP implies that in the first
foundational premise the middle term is located as
subject whereas in the second foundational (middle term)
premise. The middle term is located as predi- Remember that the two foundational premises
cate. must necessarily consist of the three terms
As (1) Major term
All boys are good. (2) Middle term
(3) Minor term
All Students are boys.
As
I All boys are good players.
at subject at predicate
II All good players are students.
III Some students are boys.
middle terms
(2) PP PP implies that in both the first and
Major term Minor term
second foundational premises, the middle term
stays at predicate.
As
All the boys are good.
(Middle term)
All the students are good.
at predicate (1) Major termThe term excluding the
middle term in the first premise is the major term.
(which is middle term also) As illustrated above, the boys denote the major
(3) SS SS implies that in both the first and term.
second foundational premises the middle terms (2) Middle termThe term that is common
occupies the place of subject. to both the premises and that does not participate
As in logical process is called the middle term. As, in
the above illustration, good has been used as the
All boys are good. middle term.
All boys are students. (3) Minor termThe term excluding the
at subject middle term in the second premises, is called the
minor term. In the aforesaid illustration Students
(which is middle term also) stand for the minor term.
(4) P S PS implies that in the first As a rute the subject of the conclusion is
foundational premise the middle term is situated at minor term and the predicate of the conclusion is
the place of predicate whereas in the second magor term.
foundational premise the middle term surrounds The distribution of terms plays an important
the place of subject. role in deducing the logical conclusion of the

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 Syllogisms PDF

given two foundational premises. It can be easily (ii) If one of the two premises is negative,
understood from the following formula their logical conclusions will also come out to be
A S E B I N O P negative.
That is, As subject only is distributed. Both (iii) If one of the two premises begins with
the subject and predicate of E are distributed. particular term, their logical conclusions will also
Neither the subject nor the predicate of I is accrue as the particular one.
distributed : Os only predicate is distributed. (iv) When the two premises begin with
universal affirmative terms and whose both the
Serial Indica- middle terms are distributed, their conclusions
Distributed
number tive term will always be deduced as the particular one.
Subject Predicate (v) Atleast one out of two middle terms must
1 A be essentially distributed for the logical conclu-
2 E sions of two foundational premises.
(vi) Two foundational premises should have
3 I
only three terms. The fallacy of four terms will
4 O come into play in case of four terms.
From the foundational premises with these The rules to draw true conversion are as under
four indicative terms, the following paired founda- (1) Conversion of the indicative term
tional premises can be formed All Some
AA EA IA OA Some Some
AE EE IE OE None None
Some not No conversion
AI EI II OI
(2) The subject of foundational premise is
AO EO IO OO transfer red to the place of predicate to whereas
the predicate is transfers red to the place of
The logical conclusions of two foundational subject.
premises can be deduced by two methods
(1) Aristotles method Some Other Important Facts
(2) Venns diagram method It was discove- A E
CONTRARY
red by Euler, a mathematician of Switzerland.
Hence called Eulers method also.
CO
SUBALTERNATION

SUBALTERNATION
N

(1) The following logical conclusions can

RY
TR

never be drawn from these 16 paired foundational

O
A

CT
D
I

premises by Aristotles method

(i) If both the given premises begin with a
negative term, no conclusion of a pair with such
CT
I
D
A

premises can ever be deduced. Such pairs are

TR

RY
N

E E, E O, O O, O E.
CO

(ii) If the given two premises commence with SUBCONTRARY

a particular term, no logical deduction of a pair I O
comprised of such premises can ever be drawn.
The pairs areI I, I O, O I. (I)
The conclusions of only 8 out of 16 paired A E I O
foundational premises can be deduced on the basis T f t F
of their figures.
f T F t
There are certain law to deduce the conclu-
d F T d
sions of two foundational premises
F d d T
(i) The conclusions of two affirmative
propositions will also be affirmative. (II)

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where T Truth
F False
d doubtful
t truth
f false
On the basis of diagram (I) it is clear that the
contrary relations of a proposition are of four
kinds. Wherein taking a term true or false, the
following cases occur which become clear
from table (II).
(1) If A is true then I will be true and O as
well as E will be false.
(2) If E is true then O will be true and A
alongwith I will be false.
(3) If I is true then E is false but A and O
will be doubtful.
(4) If O is true then A is false but E and I
will be doubtful.
(5) If A is false then O is true but E and I
will be doubtful.
(6) If E is false then I is true but A and O
will be doubtful.
(7) If I is false then A is false but E and O
will be true.
(8) If O is false then E is false but A and I
will be true.
* The question is when does the position of
Either in the conclusion arises.
It is when in the given conclusions the Subject
and the Predicate occupy similar positions
and former to them is placed the pair of lower
terms. As
(1) IO (2) AO (3) IE
* NoteIn case one of these conclusion is
obtained through syllogistic method, the other
conclusion itself becomes non-logical.
(1) I. Some kings are beggars.
II. Some kings are not beggars.
None of the two aforesaid conclusions can be
presumed false because the one being true,
the other itself becomes false. These conclu-
sions are called the complementary pair of
inferences.
(2) I. All the kings are beggars.
II. Some kings are not beggars.
Both the above conclusions cannot be simul-
taneously true in as much as one of them,
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Syllogisms PDF
when taken to be true, makes the other appa-
rently false from inference because these too
and the conclusions of complimentary pair.
(3) I. Some kings are beggars.
II. No king is beggar.
A perusal of the above conclusions reflects
inferential doubt showing that both these can
not be simultaneously false because when one
is true, the other itself becomes false.
The above illustrations of only these three
types are used for Either.
Example 1.
Statements All pens are pencils.
Some pencils are papers.
Conclusions
I. Some papers are pens.
II. Some pens are not papers.
(A) Conclusion I comes
(B) Conclusion II comes
(C) Either conclusion I or II comes
(D) Neither the conclusion I nor the conclu-
sion II comes
(E) Both come
Solution(D) Here pencils is the middle
term in both the given premises which is
undistributed at both places. So, as a rule, no
logical conclusion can be drawn from these
premises due to non-distribution of the middle
term.
Example 2.
Statements All tigers are horses.
No horse is stout.
Conclusions
I. No tiger is stout.
II. Some tigers are stout.
III. Some stout (animals) are tigers.
IV. Some horses are tigers.
(A) Either I or II
(B) Only I and III
(C) Only I and IV
(D) Either II or III
(E) None of these
Solution(C) Here the middle term is horse
which is distributed in the second premise. As
a rule, if one of the two premises is negative,
the conclusion will be derived from negative
term only. So the conclusion I is true because
it is the exact conversion of the preliminary
conclusion No stout (animal) is tiger.
Conclusion IV is the valid conversion of the
first foundational premise. So this is also
correct.
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