Posted on 07/18/2013 6:22:40 AM PDT by secret garden
In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of "Word for the Day".
syllogism\SIL-uh-jiz-um\ noun
1. a deductive scheme of a formal argument consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion
2. a subtle, specious, or crafty argument
3. deductive reasoning
Example sentences:
Kelly could not prove it, but she suspected that her opponent's arguments were a series of sneaky syllogisms based on dubious "facts."
"She learned to read [Thomas] Aquinas in the original, mastered the syllogism, pursued Socratism, then took that highly classical background with her to Dominican University in River Forest, Ill., where she graduated with a master’s degree in library and information science."
— From an article by Kevin Nevers in theChesterton Tribune (Indiana), May 8, 2013
Etymology:
For those trained in formal argument, the syllogism is a classical form of deduction. One example is the inference that "kindness is praiseworthy" from the premises "every virtue is praiseworthy" and "kindness is a virtue." "Syllogism" came to English through Anglo-French from Latin "syllogismus," which in turn can be traced back through Greek to the verb "syllogizesthai," meaning "to infer." In Greek "logizesthai" means "to calculate" and derives from "logos," meaning "word" or "reckoning." "Syl-" comes from "syn-," meaning "with" or "together."
The sentence must, in some way, relate to the news of the day. The Review threads are linked for your edification. ;-)
Practice makes perfect.....post on....
Review Thread One: Word For The Day, Thursday 11/14/02: Raffish
Review Thread Two: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/14/03: Roister
Review Thread Three: Word For The Day, Tuesday 1/28/03: Obdurate
WFB's attempt to emulate us ; ) No pushing at the door please!
Like I said, many people want to believe this is always logically true:
If A then B.
Not A.
Therefore, not B.
But it’s not.
That appears to utilize the same same logic that the CONTAPOSITIVE syllogism does. As in:
If you are in the Obama administration, then you are a liar.
You are not a liar.
Therefore, you are not in the Obama administration.
Is that correct?
Yes, that is the contrapositive. That’s the term I learned for it.
Yep, that’s it. I haven’t heard the term “contrapositive” used before, but a quick search led me to this:
“The inference rule modus tollens, also known as the law of contrapositive, validates the inference from P implies Q and the contradictory of Q, to the contradictory of P.”
Thank you.
In plain English:
If I wash my car, it will get wet.
“My car is not wet, therefore I did not wash it” is true.
“I did not wash my car, therefore it is not wet” is not. It could rain.
I just saw my first one in person last week at the park. He was enormous!
A for you and welcome to WFTD!
Are you trying to give me a headache? Welcome to WFTD!
If he has given you a headache, then you need to take an aspirin. ;-)
Who is going to the vet today-are all the creatures okay?
It is 74 and cloudy-I hope we get some more rain...
Obama is giving speeches today
Cloaked in syllogism and such
Praising Obamascare (again)-
Proving he’s out of touch
Just what part of “we hate it”
Does the emperor not understand?
We don’t care about his legacy
Of being historically grand
He is probably more likely
To have the legacy of a crook-
For using the Nixonian tactics
He found in Dick’s playbook...
I was back from hiking by 7 this morning-the mountain lion’s tracks heading into the deep woods, and the smell of carrion coming from a dead deer half covered up with leaves and grass in there made my hair stand up-I started singing and backed out, pepper spray and walking stick in hand, till I was at the top of the hill on the main trail...
Conclusion: Then my headache will go away. ;) I’m having a stressful day here and think it’s mostly tension.
Owls are awesome, aren’t they-the Great Horned are the ones heard mostly, but there is one that screeches, too-someone told me it is a kind of barn owl. I’ve never seen one of those, but I’ve seen the horned ones a few times at dusk taking off into the woods to find something small and helpless for dinner...
There is a pair of them that nest in the trees on the cliff-they’ve used the chimney cap as a courting perch every breeding season for years-the hooting echoes down the chimney into the living room...
Thank you!
Can they fix it? I hope so-no puppy needs that.
Seeing those tracks in the fresh mud, and smelling/seeing that deer was like someone turning the treadmill speed up without warning...
The furor over the Zimmerman/Martin case seems to be based on dysjunctive syllogism:
Zimmerman shot Martin. Martin was black. Zimmerman was non-black. Therefore, he is racist, because a non-black shot a black, not matter what the cause or circumstance.
If Zimmerman were black, it’s OK to have shot Martin, no matter what the circumstance (or if Martin had been white).
This is so much the liberal mind.
This reminds me of the argument against expelling troublemakers in public school because it discriminates against non-whites. A strange kind of logic.
Rand Paul cares about civil liberties and a modest foreign policy.
Liz Cheney is running against Mike Enzi.
Paul is supporting Enzi.
Ergo, I like Mike.
Off to the vet? So now you want a professional to do your hair?
Melvin, our vet, also makes hair pieces for the barber shop. Don’t go there ‘cause sometimes he forgets to trim the tail off the hide and it makes a person look like Davy Crockett in a skull cap.
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