Syllogism (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples

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noun
  1. an argument the conclusion of which is supported by two premises, of which one (major premise ) contains the term (major term ) that is the predicate of the conclusion, and the other (minor premise ) contains the term (minor term ) that is the subject of the conclusion; common to both premises is a term (middle term ) that is excluded from the conclusion. A typical form is “All A is C; all B is A; therefore all B is C.”
  2. deductive reasoning.
  3. an extremely subtle, sophisticated, or deceptive argument.
noun
  1. a deductive inference consisting of two premises and a conclusion, all of which are categorial propositions. The subject of the conclusion is the minor term and its predicate the major term; the middle term occurs in both premises but not the conclusion. There are 256 such arguments but only 24 are valid. Some men are mortal; some men are angelic; so some mortals are angelic is invalid, while some temples are in ruins; all ruins are fascinating; so some temples are fascinating is valid. Here fascinating, in ruins, and temples are respectively major, middle, and minor terms
  2. a deductive inference of certain other forms with two premises, such as the hypothetical syllogism, if P then Q; if Q then R; so if P then R
  3. a piece of deductive reasoning from the general to the particular
  4. a subtle or deceptive piece of reasoning
Syllogism (noun) Definition, Meaning & Examples

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