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June 12, 2013

Syllogism Shortcuts with Examples - Lesson 2

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In our Syllogism Shortcut Lesson 1, we have discussed about the Introduction of Syllogism. So before going to read this Lesson 2, it is advisable to read that Lesson 1 here. In this post we shall discuss some important rules with Examples.

Important Rules for Syllogism :

  1. Every deduction should contain three and only three terms.
  2. The middle term must be distributed at least once in the premises.
  3. If one premise is negative the conclusion must be negative.
  4. If one premise is particular the conclusion must be particular. 
  5. If both premises are negative no conclusion can be drawn.
  6. If both premises are particular no conclusion can be drawn.
  7. No term can be distributed in the conclusion if it is not distributed in the premises.

Now we shall discuss these rules with examples.

Syllogism Examples :


Example 1 : 

All dogs are cats ---- (1)
All cats are pigs ----- (2)

As the first statement is a universal affirmative statement, the subject (dogs) has to be distributed () and the predicate (cats) not distributed (). As the second statement is also universal affirmative the subject cat is distributed () and the predicate pigs not distributed ().
The above is arrived at on the basis of Table II.

The middle term ("cats" is the middle term as it occurs in both the premises) is distributed once in the premises. Hence it satisfies Rule [2]. As "Dogs" is distributed in the premise and "Pigs" undistributed, in the deduction also, they should appear accordingly. The type of statement that satisfies both of them is universal affirmative statement, i.e., a statement with "All". Hence the answer will be

All dogs are pigs

The answer cannot be "All pigs are dogs" because Rule [7] states that no term can be distributed in the conclusion if it is not distributed in the premises. As "pigs" is not distributed in premise it cannot be distributed in the conclusion (because if we take "All pigs are dogs", then the subject "pigs" will be distributed). Hence the conclusion "All pigs are dogs" is wrong.

Example II :

All  cats are dogs ---- (1)
All cats are pigs ----- (2)

Statement I is Universal affirmative and hence the subject "cats" is distributed and the predicate "dogs" is not distributed as per Table II.

Statement II is also Universal affirmative and hence the subject "cats" is distributed and the predicate "pigs" is not distributed as per Table II.

here the middle term "cats" ("Cats" is the middle term as it is occuring in both the premises) is distributed; hence we can draw a conclusion.

The answer should contain the terms "dogs" and "pigs" and both the terms are not distributed. Referring to Table II, we find that this is possible only in Particular Affirmative [the conclusion cannot start with the qualifier "All" as the subject in "All" should be distributed]. According to Rule 7 a term cannot be distributed in the conclusion if it is not distributed in the premises. So the answer will be

"Some dogs are Pigs" or "Some Pigs are Dogs"

Example III :

All Dogs are Cats ------ (1)
All Pigs are Cats ------- (2)  

Statement (1) is universal affirmative and hence the subject "Dogs" is distributed and the predicate "Cats" is not distributed. In statement (2) which is also a universal affirmative, the subject "Pigs" is distributed and the predicate "Cats" is not distributed. This is arrived at on the basis of Table II.

The middle term "Cats" ["cats" is the middle term as it occurs in both the statements] is not distributed in either one of the two statements. From Rule [2], which states that the middle term should be distributed at-least once in the premises for drawing a conclusion, we cannot draw any conclusion in this case.


Example IV :

All Cats are Dogs ------ (1)
Some Cats are Pigs ------- (2)  

The first statement is a universal affirmative premise and hence the subject "cats" is distributed () and predicate "dogs" is undistributed (). The second statement is particular affirmative and hence both the subject "cats" and the predicate "pigs" are undistributed () as per Table II. As we have a particular premise, the conclusion should also be a particular one as per Rule [4]. The middle term is distributed hence  we can draw a conclusion. So the answer will be

Some Dogs are Pigs or Some Pigs are Dogs


Example V :

All Dogs are Cats ------ (1)
No Cats are Pigs ------- (2) 

As the first premise is universal affirmative the subject (dogs) is distributed and the predicated (cats) is undistributed. In the second premise which is universal negative the first term (cats) and the second term (pigs) are both distributed (as per Table II). As the middle term is distributed at-least once in the premises, Rule [2] is satisfied and hence we can draw a conclusion.

From Rule [3] which states that if one of the premise is negative the conclusion should be negative, the answer should be a negative one and as both the terms dogs and pigs are distributed the conclusion should be a universal negative statement. Hence the answer will be

No dogs are pigs or
No pigs are dogs


Example VI :

All dogs are Cats ---------- (1)
Some cats are not pigs --------- (2)

Since the first statement is universal affirmative, "dogs" is distributed and "cats" is not distributed. Since the second statement is particular affirmative, "cats" is not distributed and "pigs" is also not distributed (as per Table II).

In the above given example no conclusion can be drawn as Rule [2] which states that the middle term ("Cats" in the example above as it occurs in both the premises) should be distributed at least on in the premises not satisfied. 


33 comments:

  1. Thanks for the post ... i was finding too difficult to understand this topic ... thanks a lot for explaining this in the simple way ,.. ever possible...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Really very very nice work mam . .

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi mam. one doubt.
    in example 5, 2nd statement is Universal negative right.So both subject and predicate should be distributed right?.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Typing mistake friend. Corrected now. Extremely sorry for the inconvenience.

      Delete
  4. In example 5 , Sentence 2 . No cats are pigs - This s universal negative .Both subject and predicate ( ie cats and dogs ) are distributed ..But you have
    mentioned as particular affirmative ... Can you plz correct t ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry for the inconvenience Rekha. Its a typing mistake. Corrected now.

      Delete
  5. please upload bsnl tta materials

    ReplyDelete
  6. Really gr8 job.. Thank u very much.. I omitted this topic in previous exam but now I got the clear idea by u.. Really thank u very much once again and pls give some tricks n non verbal reasoning

    ReplyDelete
  7. really ,it's a great helpful to students very much .....please upload pdf files .many shortcut methods ....thanking you sir.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I must say, i tried many times to learn syllogism but never got success. but your post is excellent kudos!

    ReplyDelete
  9. it is very excellent madam thank you

    ReplyDelete
  10. can you please give solution for this :
    Statements: Some papers are pens. All the pencils are pens.

    Conclusions:

    Some pens are pencils.
    Some pens are papers.
    my mail id is - color0rasna@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am bit confused kindly need help

    Stmnt ;
    1)some stones are bricks
    2)some bricks are trees

    Under this niether of the stmnt is distributive and both the stmnt is particular so No conclusion can be drawn

    But in arihant book ans is given as -some trees are brick

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the answer in arihant is wrong i think ,,,

      Delete
    2. It is right bcoz a statement of I type can be converted to I type means
      Some trees are bricks and
      Some bricks are stones both r correct

      Delete
    3. How can it be correct?
      Middle term cannot be reflected in the answer. Right?

      Delete
  12. I have an example : -
    1. No door is dog .
    2. All the Dogs are cats .

    Solution :- Sentence 1 is Universal -ve and 2 is Universal +ve.
    so answer should be All Door are cats .
    But the given answer in book is Some cats are Dogs . Also the middle term is Dog so how Dog can be in the conclusion .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NO DOOR IS CAT??

      Delete
    2. NO DOOR IS CAT??

      Delete
    3. No door is cat!

      Delete
    4. No door is cat!

      Delete
    5. Really a gr8 job mam it is very helpful for us thanks mam never stop to help us. Thanksssss

      Delete
    6. No door is cat
      or
      all doors are not cat
      or some doors are not cat

      Delete
  13. plz mam explain if given three statement then how to solve ....like above procedure or other method would be used plz response me or email me the procedure of solving ..if given three statement ...rajat.kehari786@gmail.com........plz mam response as soon as possible .....i am heartly thanking you!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. In example 6 it shud be
    Some Cats are Pigs--->Particular Affirmative
    Some Cats are not Pigs --->Particular Negetive

    ReplyDelete
  15. In Example 6 some cats are not pigs is particular negative right but it mentioned particular affirmative pl explain

    ReplyDelete
  16. In example 6 Some cats are not pigs is a particular negative right mentioned as particular affirmative

    ReplyDelete
  17. please explain this

    Some Necklaces are Bangles.
    All Bangles are Ornaments.
    Some Ornaments are Treasures.
    No Treasure is a Picture.
    All colours are Pictures.
    Some pictures are necklaces.

    1). I. all treasures if they are Bangles, they are also necessarily Ornaments.
    II. All necklaces if they are colours, they are also necessarily pictures.

    2). I. All ornaents which are necklaces are necessarily Bangles.
    II. no colour is treasure.

    3). I. some colour are necklaces.
    II. some ornaments are necklaces.

    4) I. some treasures are not bangles.
    II. some treasures that are bangles are also necklaces.
    GIVE ANSWERS;
    A. if only I follows.
    B. if only II follows.
    C. if either I or II follows.
    D. if neither I nor II follow.
    E. if both I and II follow

    ReplyDelete
  18. Jst wanted to inform you that the last example is not correct as the 2nd premises is particular negative kindly look into it. However thanks for the study material.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi
    I am not getting the meaning of the term distributed.
    What does it mean?

    ReplyDelete

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