See Also: syllogism(dictionary)
syllogism(encyclopedia)
syllogism(dictionary)

syllogism (iou)



syllogism noun. LME.
[Old French sil(l)ogisme, earlier sillogime (mod. syllogisme) or Latin syllogismus from Greek sullogismos, from sullogizesthai intensive of logizesthai reckon, compute, conclude, from logos reasoning, discourse: see SYN-, LOGOS, -ISM.]
Logic. A form of reasoning in which a conclusion is deduced from two given or assumed propositions called the premisses, which contain a common or middle term that is absent from the conclusion (e.g. All As are Bs, all Bs are Cs, therefore all As are Cs). LME.
horned syllogism: see HORNED adjective.
b. transf. A form or process of reasoning or something regarded as such; esp. one which is specious or subtle. Also, an artifice, a trick. Freq. joc. or iron. LME.
F. W. Farrar Took refuge in what St. Chrysostom calls 'the syllogism of violence'.
The form of syllogistic reasoning, reasoning in that form; the form of reasoning from generals to particulars. Also, deduction or mediate inference (as distinguished from induction or immediate inference). L16.