The Green caldron - University Library

10 The Green Caldron
phrase has more than one meaning and acts as a fourth term. For example
No dog has two tails.
One dog has one more tail than no dog.
One dog has three tails.
The confusion in this syllogism arises from the double meaning of the
term no dog. In the first proposition, no dog means not any dog. In the
second, no dog means a nonexistent dog. The same words, no dog, represent
two different ideas and, therefore, two different terms, bringing the total
number of terms in the syllogism to four.
To be of any use, the syllogism has to be based on valid logic. Validity
is not to be confused with truth. For example, the syllogism
All the girls at Allen Residence Hall are University of Illinois students.
Some University of Illinois students are students who do not study enough.
Some girls at Allen Residence Hall are students who do not study enough.
Each of the premises is true, but the syllogism itself is invalid. It is
invalid because the middle term is not specific enough. Perhaps, none of
the University of Illinois students who do not study enough are girls at
Allen Residence Hall. Conversely, all the premises may be false and the
syllogism still be logically valid. For example, the syllogism
All Chicago voters are Republicans.
President Kennedy is a Chicago voter.
President Kennedy is a Republican.
There are a great many rules as to what comprises a good syllogism.
Let it suffice to say the syllogism is a method of deduction by which two
premises lead to a conclusion. It can be of great value if the premises are
true and the reasoning is valid.
ON
Two Bison
Elaine Miller
Rhetoric 101, Theme 6
THE WALL OF A CAVE NEAR MONTIGNAC IN FRANCE
is a painting in some ways as exciting as any work the world of art
has to offer. The figures were "painted" by rubbing natural oxides
into the stone walls. In many instances the actual surface of the stone is in-
corporated into the painting. Although the picture was done fifteen or thirty
thousand years ago, the images are amazingly preserved and convey a vivid
freshness. The most widely known section of the wall in the Cave of
Lascaux is that of the "Two Bison." The tribal artists who decorated the
walls of this ritual cave possessed the mysterious ability to create a work
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