Ateneo law reviewer

1. Syllogism
a. 3 components of syllogism:
i. Major premise
ii. Minor Premise
iii. Conclusion
1. Example: All birds are animals. That is a bird. Therefore, what I am
seeing is an animal.
b. Types of Syllogism:
i. Categorical Syllogism: If A is part of C, then B is also part of C.
1. Example: All cars have wheels (MaP). I drive a car (MiP). My car has
wheels (Conc).
ii. Conditional Syllogism: If A is true, then B is true. Arguments used in this logic are
merely an accepted truth.
1. Example: Gabriel studies in a very good university. His parents must be
really rich.
iii. Disjunctive Syllogism: Since A is true, then B must be false.
1. Example: The chair in his living room is either red or blue (Map). It is not
blue (MiP). His chair is red (Conc)
iv. Enthymemes: Major and minor premise which are assumed to be already
accepted by the audience.
1. Example: The food we will be having later should not be that bad. A
famous chef will be cooking for us.
v. Syllogistic Fallacy: Use of false presumptions
1. The people in the Philippines are hospitable (MaP). I am in Philippines
(MiP). Therefore, the people here are hospitable (Conc).
c. Rules of Syllogism: They mainly apply with categorical syllogism.
i. Rule 1: The middle term should be distributed at least once.
ii. Rule 2: If a term is present in the conclusion, then it must be distributed to a
premise.
iii. Rule 3: No 2 negative premise should be present at the same time. (Use of No,
and Not)
iv. If a negative premise is used in an argument (No, or Not), the conclusion should
always be negative.
v. If both premises are universal (All), the conclusion should also be universal and
not particular.
vi. If both the premises are positive, then the conclusion should also be positive.
vii. The middle term should not appear in the conclusion
d. The terms in syllogism
i. Major term: the subject of the conclusion
ii. Minor term: The predicate of the conclusion
iii. Middle term: Provides the connection and middle ground for the 2 premises.
Must not appear in the conclusion of a categorical syllogism.