Syllogism
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A syllogism (syllogismos, "conclusion, inference") 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.
In its earliest form, defined by Aristotle, from the combination of a general statement (the major premise) and a specific statement (the minor premise), a conclusion is deduced. For example, knowing that all men are mortal (major premise) and that Socrates is a man (minor premise), we may validly conclude that Socrates is mortal. Syllogistic arguments are usually represented in a three-line form (without sentence-terminating periods):
All men are mortal.
Socrates is a man.
Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
The word "therefore" can be represented by the symbol "∴"
See also
- Argumentation theory
- Buddhist logic
- Enthymeme
- Other types of syllogism:
- Syllogistic fallacy
- The False Subtlety of the Four Syllogistic Figures
- Venn diagram
