Philosophy & ThoughtGreek → English
Syllogism
/ˈsɪlədʒɪzəm/noun
An argument in which a conclusion follows from two premises.
The Greek roots
σύν
sýn
together
λογισμός
logismós
reckoning, reasoning
Literally: “a reckoning together”
The story of the word
Aristotle defined the syllogismos in the Prior Analytics and the definition governed European logic for two thousand years. The literal sense is arithmetical: you put two statements together and something is reckoned out of them. All men are mortal, Socrates is a man, so Socrates is mortal is the textbook example, though it is not one Aristotle himself used.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
logiclogisticseulogyanalogy
In a sentence
The whole editorial rests on a syllogism with a missing middle term.