Syllogism - A Brief Note

SYLLOGISM – Brief Note

Syllogism is an argument that has a major premise, a minor premise and conclusions. The two premises have a subject and a predicate and the middle term should have been distributed at least once.

Major premise                   A general statement

Minor premise                   A specific statement

Conclusion                          Based on the premises.

In syllogism the truth and validity have differences between them.  A syllogism can be true but not valid by making any logical sense and it can also be valid but not true.

There are four types of premises:

Universal Affirmative                                       All Dogs are Cats

Universal Negative                                          No Dog is a Cat

Particular affirmative                                        Some Dogs are Cats

Particular Negative                                          Some Dogs are not Cats

The following chart should assist the readers in solving questions on Syllogism.

Abbreviations used:

Universal Affirmative – UA

Universal Negative     -- UN

Particular Affirmative – PA

Particular Negative    --  PN

Statement – One	UA	UN	PA	PN	UA	UA	UN
Statement – Two	UA/UN	UN	PA	PN	PN	PA	PA
Conclusion	UA/UN	No Conclusion possible	No Conclusion possible	No Conclusion possible	PN	PA	PN

In each of the following questions are given two statements followed by two conclusions numbered I and II. You have to take the given statements true even if they seem to be at variance from commonly known facts. Read all the conclusions and then decide which of the given conclusion logically follows from the given statements disregarding commonly known facts.  Give answer:

(a)          if only Conclusion I follows.

(b)          If only Conclusion II follows.

(c)          If either Conclusion I or II follows.

(d)          If neither Conclusion I nor II follows.

(e)          If both Conclusions I and II follow.

1.            Statement:                                 All Dogs are Monkeys.

                                                                No Monkey is a Cat.

                Conclusion:              I               No Dog is a Cat

                                                II             No Cat is a Dog.

2.            Statement:                                  Some phones are watches.

                                                                All watches are guns.

                Conclusion:             I               All guns are watches

                                                II             Some guns are phones

3.            Statement:                                 Some trucks are houses.

                                                                Some houses are trains.

                Conclusion:             I               Some trains are trucks

                                                II             No train is truck

4.            Statement:                                 All pencils are bricks

                                                                All bricks are bottles.

                Conclusion:              I               Some bottles are bricks

                                                II             All bricks are bottles.

5.            Statement:                                 All tigers are ships.

                                                                Some ships are cupboards.

                Conclusion:              I               Some tigers are cupboards

                                                II             Some cupboards are tigers.

6.            Statement:                                 All flowers are trees

                                                                All trees are fruits

                Conclusion:              I               Some fruits are flowers

                                                II             All flowers are fruits.

7.            Statement:                                 All cars are cats.

                                                                All fans are cats.

                Conclusion:              I               All cars are fans.

                                                II             Some fans are cars.

8.            Statement:                                 Many Scooters are trucks.

                                                                All trucks are trains.

                Conclusion:              I               Some scooters are trains.

                                                II             Some trains are scooters.

9.            Statement:                                  Some kites are threads

                                                                No thread is a needle

                Conclusion:              I               Some kites are needles

                                                II             No needle is thread.

10.          Statement:                                 Some stones are cups.

                                                                Some cups are black.

                Conclusion:              I               Some blacks are not cups

                                                II             Some cups are stones

 Answers:     1. (e)            2. (b)     3. (d)     4. (b)     5. (e)     6. (b)     7. (a)      8. (e)     9. (b)     10. (d)