Categorical Syllogisms - Essay Example

Categorical Syllogisms Categorical Syllogisms By definition a categorical syllogism refers to a deductive argument deduced from two premises. The deduced argument is in form of a conclusion based purely on the preceding premises that logically add up to the conclusion. For example:Some Jamaicans are bhang smokers All bhang smokers are violent people Therefore, Some Jamaicans are violent people Notably, the conclusion that some Jamaicans are violent people is based on the fact that the group that smokes Bhang in Jamaica must be violent.

Therefore, Jamaicans is the major term(P) as it provides the predicament of the conclusion while violent people (subject of the conclusion) and bhang smokers are the minor(S) and middle (M) terms respectively. Accordingly, the first statement is the major premise as it defines the relationship between the major and middle terms, while the second is a minor premise hence the syllogism is in standard form. Mood and figureNote that the major premise is an I, while the minor is an A, the conclusion is an A.

therefore the mood of the syllogism is IAI. The mood can be deduced as;Statement Mood order of terms Some Jamaicans are bhang smokers Major premise IP MAll bhang smokers are violent Minor premise AM SSome Jamaicans are violent Conclusion EP S Hence the syllogistic mood is of figure 4. In a nutshell, the argument given is an IAI-4 syllogism. Validity The major premise, “some Jamaicans are bhang smokers” is logically true and so is the minor premise. The conclusion deduced is also true.

Therefore the syllogism is valid given that by the virtue of the premises being true, the conclusion made also turns out not false. ReferenceGoldstein, E. B. (2008). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience. Australia: Thomson Wadsworth.