Syllogisms PDF

Syllogism

Syllogism is the process whereby the ideas of

a man are logically expressed.
A sentence necessarily consists of a
(1) Subject
(2) Predicate
(3) Copula
As

Boys

Subject

are

Copula

good

Predicate

The given illustration will be said to be

syllogistic when All, No, Some and Some not is
added in the beginning of it.
There are four types of logical propositions
(1) Universal affirmative
(2) Universal negative
(3) Particular affirmative
(4) Particular negative

(3) Particular affirmativeIf a proposi-tion

commences with Some then such a particular
statement is grouped under particular affirmative.
As Some
boys
are

Universal Subject Copula

affirmative
term

good

Predicate

(4) Particular negativeWhen a proposition starts with Some not then such a foundational premise is kept under the category of particular negative.
As
Some

not

boys

are

Subject

Copula

good
Predicate

(1) Universal affirmativeThe foundational premise beginning with All is classed as

universal affirmative.
As All
the boys
are

Universal Subject Copula

affirmative
term

good

Predicate

(2) Universal negativeWhen a proposi-tion

begins with No then such a foundational premise
is categorised as universal negative.
As No

Universal
negative
term

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boy
is

Subject Copula

good

Predicate

Particular negative term

Serial Beginning
Indinum- term of the cative
ber foundational Term
premise
1
All
A
2

No

Some

Some not

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Quality

Category

Affirmative
Negative
Affirmative
Negative

Universal
Universal
Particu
-lar
Particu
-lar

Syllogisms PDF

A pair of two foundational premises can be

arranged in four figures. In order to arrange these
paired foundational premises on the basis of their
figures. It is very essential to remember the
following sentence in English. On having learnt
this sentence you too can arrange any two
foundational premises in their figures.
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
premise. The middle term is located as predicate.
As
All

boys

are

good.

All

Students

are

boys.

As
All

boys

are

good players.

All

good payers

are

students.

at predicate

(middle term)
Remember that the two foundational premises
must necessarily consist of the three terms
(1) Major term
(2) Middle term
(3) Minor term
As
I All

at subject

at predicate

at subject

II All

boys

are good players.

good players are students.

III Some students

are boys.

middle terms
(2) PP PP implies that in both the first and
second foundational premises, the middle term
stays at predicate.
As
All
the
boys
are good.
All

the

students

are good.
at predicate
(which is middle term also)

(3) SS SS implies that in both the first and

second foundational premises the middle terms
occupies the place of subject.
As
All

boys

are

good.

All

boys
are
students.
at subject
(which is middle term also)

(4) P S PS implies that in the first

foundational premise the middle term is situated at
the place of predicate whereas in the second
foundational premise the middle term surrounds
the place of subject.

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Major term

Minor term

(Middle term)
(1) Major termThe term excluding the
middle term in the first premise is the major term.
As illustrated above, the boys denote the major
term.
(2) Middle termThe term that is common
to both the premises and that does not participate
in logical process is called the middle term. As, in
the above illustration, good has been used as the
middle term.
(3) Minor termThe term excluding the
middle term in the second premises, is called the
minor term. In the aforesaid illustration Students
stand for the minor term.
As a rute the subject of the conclusion is
minor term and the predicate of the conclusion is
magor term.
The distribution of terms plays an important
role in deducing the logical conclusion of the

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Syllogisms PDF

Subject

Predicate

From the foundational premises with these

four indicative terms, the following paired foundational premises can be formed
AA
EA
IA
OA
AE
EE
IE
OE
AI

EI

II

OI

AO

EO

IO

OO

CONTRARY

I
D
A

RY
O
CT

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Some Other Important Facts

TR
N
CO

The logical conclusions of two foundational

premises can be deduced by two methods
(1) Aristotles method
(2) Venns diagram method It was discovered by Euler, a mathematician of Switzerland.
Hence called Eulers method also.
(1) The following logical conclusions can
never be drawn from these 16 paired foundational
premises by Aristotles method
(i) If both the given premises begin with a
negative term, no conclusion of a pair with such
premises can ever be deduced. Such pairs are
E E, E O, O O, O E.
(ii) If the given two premises commence with
a particular term, no logical deduction of a pair
comprised of such premises can ever be drawn.
The pairs areI I, I O, O I.
The conclusions of only 8 out of 16 paired
foundational premises can be deduced on the basis
of their figures.
There are certain law to deduce the conclusions of two foundational premises
(i) The conclusions of two affirmative
propositions will also be affirmative.

SUBCONTRARY

E
SUBALTERNATION

A
E
I
O

CT
O
RY

1
2
3
4

Distributed

A
D
I

Indicative term

CO
N
TR

Serial
number

(ii) If one of the two premises is negative,

their logical conclusions will also come out to be
negative.
(iii) If one of the two premises begins with
particular term, their logical conclusions will also
accrue as the particular one.
(iv) When the two premises begin with
universal affirmative terms and whose both the
middle terms are distributed, their conclusions
will always be deduced as the particular one.
(v) Atleast one out of two middle terms must
be essentially distributed for the logical conclusions of two foundational premises.
(vi) Two foundational premises should have
only three terms. The fallacy of four terms will
come into play in case of four terms.
The rules to draw true conversion are as under
(1) Conversion of the indicative term
All

Some
Some

Some
None

None
Some not
No conversion
(2) The subject of foundational premise is
transfer red to the place of predicate to whereas
the predicate is transfers red to the place of
subject.

SUBALTERNATION

given two foundational premises. It can be easily

understood from the following formula
A S E B I N O P
That is, As subject only is distributed. Both
the subject and predicate of E are distributed.
Neither the subject nor the predicate of I is
distributed : Os only predicate is distributed.

(I)
A
T
f
d
F

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E
f
T
F
d

I
t
F
T
d

O
F
t
d
T

(II)

Syllogisms PDF

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 conclusions 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 simultaneously true in as much as one of them,

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when taken to be true, makes the other apparently 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 conclusion 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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