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Categorical Syllogism or Arguments in Logic
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This lecture notes discusses the topic "categorical syllogism or arguments" and the way in which validity of arguments in categorical logic are determined.
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Categorical SyllogismA categorical syllogism is a simple argument that contains only three categorical
propositions, of which the first two are called premises and the third is called
the conclusion. Any valid categorical syllogism contains three terms, namely: major
term, minor term, and middle term, and each of them must appear exactly but not in
the same proposition.
Example 1:
All Filipinos are Asians.
All Cebuanos are Filipinos.
Therefore, all Cebuanos are Asians.
The major term is defined as the predicate of the conclusion. In the example above, the
major term is “Asians” because it is the predicate term of the conclusion.
The minor term is the subject term of the conclusion. In the example above, the minor
term is “Cebuanos”.
The middle term is the term that occurs in the premises but not in the conclusion.
Hence, in the example above, the middle term is “Filipinos”.
In any standard form of a categorical syllogism, the premise that contains the major
term must be stated first, which is then called the major premise, followed by the minor
premise, which contains the minor term, and then the conclusion.
Going back to the example above, “All Filipinos are Asians” is the premise that contains
the major term “Asians”. The proposition “All Cebuanos are Filipinos” is the premise
that contains the minor term; hence, it is the minor premise. The conclusion which
contains the minor and major terms must be stated last. In short, in a standard form of a
categorical syllogism, the order of the premise should be:
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