Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Quasi-syllogism
Quasi-syllogism is a term that is sometimes used to describe what might be otherwise called a categorical syllogism but where one of the premises is singular, and thus not a categorical statement.
For example:
- All men are mortal
- Socrates is a man
- Socrates is mortal
In the above argument, while premise 1 is a categorical, premise 2 is a singular statement referring to one individual. While this is a valid logical form, it is not strictly a categorical syllogism.
Of course, it has been suggested that you can translate any singular statement into a categorical.
For example:
- Socrates is a man
- All members of a class of which the only member is "Socrates" are men
The above two premises may be considered identical, but the first is a singular and the second is a categorical.
11-30-2008 18:11:33
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details


