Categorical Syllogisms

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2.4 Categorical Syllogisms

In this section, we study categorical syllogisms and learn how to identify their argument forms. A syllogism is an argument with two premises and one conclusion.

2.4.1 Standard Categorical Syllogisms

A standard categorical syllogism is a syllogism that consists of three categorical sentences, in which there are three terms, and each term appears exactly twice. The three terms in a standard categorical syllogism are the major, the minor and the middle terms. The major term is the predicate term of the conclusion. The minor term is the subject term of the conclusion. The middle term is the term that appears twice in the premises.

A categorical syllogism is presented in standard form when its statements are arranged in the order of the major premise, the minor premise and the conclusion. Here the major premise is the premise that contains the major term, and the minor premise is the premise that contains the minor term.

The mood of a standard categorical syllogism is determined by the types of categorical statements it contains. In the following example, the major premise is an E statement and the minor premise is an I statement. The conclusion is an O statement. So its mood is EIO.

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The figure of a standard categorical syllogism is determined by the positions of the two appearances of the middle term. In the above example, the middle term is spiders. The relative positions of its two appearances show that its figure is 4.

By combining mood and figure together, we can give the argument form of each standard categorical syllogism a unique name. In the above example, the argument form is EIO-4. Quite often, categorical syllogisms are not presented in the standard form. To use the Venn Diagram method to decide their validity, we need to first change them into the standard form. This process may involve two steps: 1. Paraphrase sentences into categorical sentences. 2. Reduce the number of terms to three.

2.4.2 Paraphrasing Categorical Sentences

The following are some formulas to help you paraphrase sentences. The symbol is used here to stand for ... is paraphrased as ....

A few and Few

A few S are P.

Some S are P

For example, the sentence A few soldiers are heroes. (A few S are H.)

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is paraphrased as Some soldiers are heroes. (Some S are H.) It is important not to confuse A few with Few. Few S are P. Some S are P and some S are not P.

The key point of the sentence Few tigers are white lies in the fact that white tigers are rare. We need two categorical sentences to capture its meaning: Some tigers are white animals, but most tigers are not white animals. But since in Categorical Logic we can use only the universal quantifier all or the particular quantifier some, we have to replace most with some, and rewrite the sentence further as Some tigers are white animals and some tigers are not white animals. Granted that these two categorical sentences together do not capture all the meanings in the original sentence, but this is the best we can do in Categorical Logic.

Not every , Not all and Not a

Not every S is a P. The sentence

Some S are not P.

Not every swan is white. (Not every S is W.) is paraphrased as Some swans are not white birds. (Some S are not W.) Not all S are P. Some S are not P.

Not all S are P. is a variation of Not every S is a P. The sentence Not all apples are red. (Not all A are R.) is rewritten as Some apples are not red things. (Some A are not R.) Notice that the next formula is different from the previous two. Not an S is a P. The sentence No S are P.

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Not a penguin can fly. emphasizes that no penguin can fly, and thus is paraphrased as No penguins are flyers. (No P are F.)

If , then and if Conditional sentences are fairly common in logic. Here we learn how to paraphrase them as the A statements. If it is an S, then it is a P. For example, If a driver is drunk, then he is dangerous. is paraphrased as an A statement All drunk drivers are dangerous drivers. (All D1 are D2.) Here D1 stands for drunk drivers and D2 stands for dangerous drivers. Subscripts are used to distinguish the two terms. Sometimes, the conditional sentences are written with if in the middle of the sentence. It is a P if it is an S. The sentence A driver is dangerous if he is drunk. is just a variation of If a driver is drunk, then he is dangerous. and hence is also rewritten as All drunk drivers are dangerous drivers. (All D1 are D2.) All S are P. All S are P.

Only , None except and None but Sentences begin with only are paraphrased using the following formula. Only S are P. All P are S.

When paraphrasing the sentence

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Only women can bear children. (Only W are B.) it is important to reverse the order of the two terms, and rewrite it as All the persons who can bear children are women. (All B are W.) It would be a mistake to paraphrase the sentence as All W are B. It is not true that all women can bear children. So we can clearly see that it is not logically equivalent to Only W are B. None except S are P and None but S are P are just other ways of saying Only S are P. None except S are P. All P are S.

None but S are P. The sentence

All P are S.

None but club members can vote. (None but C are V.) is transformed as All the persons who can vote are club members. (All V are C.)

The only Some sentences start with the phrase the only. The only S are P is another way of saying Only P are S. The only S are P. The sentence The only persons who can bear children are women. (The only B are W.) says the same thing as Only women can bear children. (Only W are B.) and is paraphrased as All the persons who can bear children are women. (All B are W.) All S are P.

All except and All but It takes two categorical sentences to paraphrase sentences beginning with all except or all but

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All except S are P.

No S are P and all non-S are P.

All but S are P.

No S are P and all non-S are P.

For example, it is clear that All except freshmen are eligible players. excludes freshmen from eligibility. But in addition, it also says that all non-freshmen (that is, sophomores, juniors and seniors) are eligible. Therefore, it needs to be rewritten as two categorical sentences. No freshmen are eligible players and all non-freshmen are eligible players. (No F are E and all non-F are E.)

2.4.3 Reducing the Number of Terms

As discussed early, there can only be three terms in a categorical syllogism. However, in the following argument All mean people are inconsiderate people. All kind people are considerate people. All unkind people are mean people. we have five terms because both kind people and its complement unkind people appear in the syllogism. So do the terms considerate people and inconsiderate people. When this happens, we need to use the three operations (conversion, obversion or contraposition) to reduce the number of terms to three. First, we replace each term with a capital letter or its complement. All M are non-C. All K are C. All non-K are M. Afterwards, we apply contraposition to the minor premise and change it to All non-C are non-K. All M are non-C. All K are C. All non-K are M. Contrapos. All M are non-C. All non-C are non-K. All non-K are M.

As a result, we have three terms: M, non-K and non-C. The argument form is AAA-4. The following example shows how a categorical syllogism is transformed from a written passage into the standard form through paraphrasing and reducing the number of terms.

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Not all religious people are spiritual. If one is spiritual, then one is unprejudiced, but some religious people are prejudiced. First of all, we paraphrase each sentence into a categorical sentence, and identify the major and the minor premises. All S are non-P. Some R are P. Some R are not S. Afterwards, we apply obversion to the major premise to reduce the number of terms to three. All S are non-P. Some R are P. Some R are not S. The resulting standard form is EIO-2. When we try to reduce the number of terms by applying an operation to a sentence, we need to choose an operation so that the resulting sentence is logically equivalent to the original sentence. This way, we make sure we do not change the argument and turn it into a different argument. The following operation is incorrect because contraposition is applied to an E statement. The resulting statement No H are D is not logically equivalent to No non-D are non-H. Some H are B. No non-D are non-H. Some D are not B. Contrapos. Some H are B. No H are D. Some D are not B. Obversion No S are P. Some R are P. Some R are not S.

We thus need to use different operations to reduce the number of terms. One way to do so is to apply conversion and then obversion to both the premises. Some H are B. No non-D are non-H. Some D are not B. The mood and figure of the argument form is OAO-4. Conv. & Obv. Conv. & Obv. Some B are not non-H. All non-H are D. Some D are not B.

Exercise 2.4
I. Use the capital letters provided to paraphrase the following sentences into categorical sentences. 1. None but the logical are rational. (L: logical people, R: rational people) 2. A few writers win the Nobel Prize in literature. (W: writers, N: winners of the Nobel Prize in literature)

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3. Only accountants will be hired. (A: accountants, H: people who will be hired) 4. A gas-guzzler is not environment-friendly. (G: gas-guzzlers, E: environment-friendly cars) 5. Not all movie stars are good actors. (M: movie stars, G: good actors) 6. All except the company employees can enter the sweepstakes. (C: company employees, E: people who can enter the sweepstakes) 7. Not a tabloid story is reliable. (T: tabloid stories, R: reliable reports) 8. Few rumors are true. (R: rumors, T: true assertions) 9. Only drugs approved by FDA are safe. (D: drugs approved by FDA, S: safe medicines) 10. Not a child should be without health care. (C: children, H: people who should have health care) 11. Bats are the only true flying mammals. (B: bats, T: true flying mammals) 12. If one works hard, then one will succeed. (W: hard-working people, S: people who will succeed) 13. A few small business owners support living wages. (O: small business owners, S: supporters of living wages) 14. All but career politicians favor term limits. (C: career politicians, F: people who favor term limits) 15. None but the wealthy benefit from the tax cut. (W: wealthy people, B: people who benefit from the tax cut) II. (1) Reduce the number of terms to three; (2) indicate the operation(s) used; and (3) identify the mood and figure. Example: All non-C are O. Some V are not C. Some V are O. Obv. Allnon-C are O. Some V are non-C. Some V are O. AII-1

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1. Some non-D are B. All B are H. Some H are not D.

2. All M are S. Some non-S are A. Some A are non-M.

3. No E are R. All non-G are R. All G are E.

4. Some C are non-E. No K are non-C. Some K are not E.

5. No non-N are non-P. All non-N are non-L. All L are non-P.

6. No non-B are D. Some non-D are not non-E. Some E are not B.

7. Some R are non-D. No D are non-M. Some M are R.

8. All G are E. Some E are not B. Some B are not non-G.

9. No K are S. All non-K are non-C. No C are S.

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10. Some R are non-A. All A are non-D. Some D are not R.

11. All N are H. All G are N. All non-G are non-H.

12. No S are F. All non-S are C. Some C are not F.

13. No B are M. Some non-B are non-K. Some K are not M.

14. All O are non-R. Some A are not R. Some non-A are O.

15. Some non-D are E. Some A are not E. Some non-A are D.

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