An introductory text-book of logic - Mellone, Sydney - Rare Books at ...

160 MEDIATE INFERENCE
a Buddhist,
opinions,"
for none other than Buddhists hold these
it would have been valid in Cesare, fig. ii.,
" He is none other than a
leading to the conclusion,
Buddhist," or (by obversion) he is a Buddhist.
When one of the premises is an exclusive or excep
tive proposition, it is necessary to consider whether
the chief stress is laid on the negative implication of
this premise (which is usually the case, as in the ex
ample just given), or on its positive implication (which
must be expressed as a particular proposition), or on
both equally. In the last case we have two syllogisms
compressed into one, thus :
"
Only British subjects are
eligible ; A. B. is a German subject and therefore in
eligible ; C. D. is an English subject and therefore
eligible." Here one of the syllogisms is valid and the
other is not.
The is following a common rhetorical form of argu
ment :
"
be ashamed of a mistake ? All men
Why
are fallible." The question is equivalent to the state
ment that "no mistakes are things to be ashamed
of"; this is evidently the conclusion. The given
premise,
"all men are fallible" must be restated so
as to connect it with the conclusion, thus :
"
a mistake
is what all men are liable to." This contains the
subject of the conclusion, and is therefore the minor
premise; it is universal, for it means to refer to every
instance of "a mistake." The syllogism then becomes :
What all men are liable to is not a thing to be
ashamed of;
A mistake is what all men are liable to ;
Therefore no mistakes are things to be ashamed of.
This is valid in Celarent, fig. i., if the major premise be
accepted ; but when this premise is fully formulated, we
might hesitate to accept it.