Solving Problems on Syllogisms: Types of Syllogisms
Many friends have expressed their difficullty in solving problems on syllogisms.I find them to b the easisest and very interesting.This doc is my attempt to reduce the fear people have of this topic,an imporatnt are of verbal reasoning.
there r 3 types: conditional syllogisms,disjunctive syllogisms and categorical syllogisms.
In this doc,we try our hands on the last type: i.e.categorical syllogisms.
Here,we r provided wid two statements /propositions(we shall call them premises from now on ) from which we r to draw a conclusion...or sometimes we r given two premises followed by a conclusion wherein we have to say whether the conclusion is valid or not eg: 1) All As are Bs 2) All Bs are Cs. 3)All As are Cs. here the first two are the premises and 3rd is the conclusion we derive from the two premises…
Terminology:
1.Middle term: The term common to both premises .In above example,Bs.
2.Major premise : The premise in which the middle term is the subject.eg: in above ,2nd premise.
3.Minor premise: The premise in which the middle term is the predicate. Eg: in above,1st premise.
There r 4 types of premises:
1.Universal affirmative- only subject is distributed. Eg: All As are Bs Here,the subject is As and redicate is Bs.
So Only As is distributed.
When u come across a statement like ‘’As are Bs”,it shud b taken as “all As are Bs’’.
2.Particular Affirmative-where neither subject nor predicate is distributed.
Eg: Some flowers are pink.
Here subject is flowers.Predicate is Pink.
So none is distributed.
3.Universal negative- both subject and predicate are distributed
Eg: No square is circle.
Here,subject is square,predicate is circle.
So both square and circle are distributed.
If u observe the statement,,u can clearly identify is as universal as it talks about any square and since it has a negative ‘no’,we can say it is universal negative.
Another example of Univ Neg premise is Any square is not circle.
4.Particular negative-only
there r 3 types: conditional syllogisms,disjunctive syllogisms and categorical syllogisms.
In this doc,we try our hands on the last type: i.e.categorical syllogisms.
Here,we r provided wid two statements /propositions(we shall call them premises from now on ) from which we r to draw a conclusion...or sometimes we r given two premises followed by a conclusion wherein we have to say whether the conclusion is valid or not eg: 1) All As are Bs 2) All Bs are Cs. 3)All As are Cs. here the first two are the premises and 3rd is the conclusion we derive from the two premises…
Terminology:
1.Middle term: The term common to both premises .In above example,Bs.
2.Major premise : The premise in which the middle term is the subject.eg: in above ,2nd premise.
3.Minor premise: The premise in which the middle term is the predicate. Eg: in above,1st premise.
There r 4 types of premises:
1.Universal affirmative- only subject is distributed. Eg: All As are Bs Here,the subject is As and redicate is Bs.
So Only As is distributed.
When u come across a statement like ‘’As are Bs”,it shud b taken as “all As are Bs’’.
2.Particular Affirmative-where neither subject nor predicate is distributed.
Eg: Some flowers are pink.
Here subject is flowers.Predicate is Pink.
So none is distributed.
3.Universal negative- both subject and predicate are distributed
Eg: No square is circle.
Here,subject is square,predicate is circle.
So both square and circle are distributed.
If u observe the statement,,u can clearly identify is as universal as it talks about any square and since it has a negative ‘no’,we can say it is universal negative.
Another example of Univ Neg premise is Any square is not circle.
4.Particular negative-only