Sunday, 6 February 2011

Word of the week - Syllogism

Syllogism - In logic it is a form of concise deductive argument which usually consists of a major premise, minor premise and a conclusion [1]. A deductive argument is one in which that if the premises are true by definition the conclusion must be necessarily true. A sound and valid deductive argument is the strongest form of argument in logic.

An example of a Syllogism can be seen below;

Major Premise - All mammals are warm blooded
Minor Premise - All Badgers are Mammals
Conclusion - Therefore all Badgers are warm blooded

Etymology

From the Greek syllogismos - meaning to 'Reason', 'Calculate', or 'infer'

[1] - Introduction to Philosophy, N.L Geislet & P.D Feinberg, 2007, pp.433.

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