Rise and shine! I’m off to the vet.
No syllogisms in the prosecution’s case against George Zimmerman. Their case did not hold together, nor did it reach the conclusion that they wanted.
I took an excellent course in Formal Logic in college, taught by Dr. Leonard Peikoff, a close associate of Ayn Rand. The syllogism was the lynchpin of the syllabus. The format is Major Premise, Minor Premise, Conclusion. If the two premises are true, the conclusion must be true, as in:
Everyone connected to the Obama administration is a liar.
Jay Carney is connected to the Obama administration.
Therefore, Jay Carney is a liar.
I recall that the NEGATIVE may or may not be true:
(Here’s a case where it’s not true:)
Everyone connected to the Obama administration is a liar.
Bill Clinton is not connected to the Obama administration.
Therefore, Bill Clinton is not a liar.
(Here’s a case where it is true:)
Everyone connected to the Obama administration is a liar.
Mother Theresa is not connected to the Obama administration.
Therefore, Mother Theresa is not a liar.
The CONVERSE also may or may not be true:
(Here, it is true)
Everyone connected to the Obama administration is a liar.
Jay Carney is a liar.
Therefore, Jay Carney is connected to the Obama administration.
(Here, it is false)
Everyone connected to the Obama administration is a liar.
Bill Clinton is a liar.
Therefore, Bill Clinton is connected to the Obama administration.
One thing I recall fairly well is that the CONTRAPOSITIVE is always true (assuming the original syllogism is true.)
Thus:
Everyone connected to the Obama administration is a liar.
George Washington is not a liar.
Therefore, George Washington is not connected to the Obama administration
We had the most amazing experience last night. When we got home from work and sat down for dinner, I spotted an enormous owl sitting on the upper cross bar of my garden swing. We’ve lived here 27 years. Although I’ve occasionally heard an owl, I’ve never seen one before.
I think this was a Great Horned Owl, although I’m not really sure.
He patiently sat there for a full 45 minutes (perhaps longer because he was already there when I first noticed him). He just was looking around — probably for small animals for a snack.
Then, suddenly, he spread his wings and flew swiftly and silently away. He went behind the barn, so I don’t know if he caught anything, but we have lots of rabbits, voles, and mice running arond.
He was awesome!
Busy day; conference call at 8:00am, meetings until 6:00pm, then off to the sperm bank to syllogism.
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...
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.