syllogism (redirected from Deductive inference)

syl·lo·gism  (sl-jzm)

n.

1. Logic A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion; for example, All humans are mortal, the major premise, I am a human, the minor premise, therefore, I am mortal, the conclusion.

2. Reasoning from the general to the specific; deduction.

3. A subtle or specious piece of reasoning.

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[Middle English silogisme, from Old French, from Latin syllogismus, from Greek sullogismos, from sullogizesthai, to infer : sun-, syn- + logizesthai, to count, reckon (from logos, reason; see leg- in Indo-European roots).]

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syllogism [ˈsɪləˌdʒɪzəm]

n

1. (Philosophy / Logic) 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. (Philosophy / Logic) 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. (Philosophy / Logic) a piece of deductive reasoning from the general to the particular

4. (Philosophy / Logic) a subtle or deceptive piece of reasoning

[via Latin from Greek sullogismos, from sullogizesthai to reckon together, from sul- syn- + logizesthai to calculate, from logos a discourse]

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syllogism

a form of reasoning in which two propositions or premises are stated and a logical conclusion is drawn from them. Each premise has the subject-predicate form, and each shares a common element called the middle term.

See also: Logic

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a form of reasoning in which two statements are made and a logical conclusion is drawn from them. See also logic. — syllogistic, adj.

See also: Argumentation

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

syllogism - deductive reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises deductive reasoning, synthesis, deduction - reasoning from the general to the particular (or from cause to effect) ratiocination, conclusion - the proposition arrived at by logical reasoning (such as the proposition that must follow from the major and minor premises of a syllogism) major premise, major premiss - the premise of a syllogism that contains the major term (which is the predicate of the conclusion) minor premise, minor premiss, subsumption - the premise of a syllogism that contains the minor term (which is the subject of the conclusion)

Translations

syllogism [ˈsɪlədʒɪzəm] N → silogismo m

syllogism

n → Syllogismus m

syllogism [ˈsɪləˌdʒɪz/əm] n → sillogismo