Yesterday I introduced the idea of a civics glossary. Here is the first entry. For those who didn't read my post yesterday ( Shame on you!) the civics glossary is a list of terms I think every voting citizen should be able to define and use. Some have direct political meaning ( like law and order auction) while others are more general ideas and terms that I believe are necessary to evaluate political and other ideas, these include just world effect and occams razor. The first entry is syllogism, a term I think everyone should know and use and something I think everyone should create from time to time.
Syllogism- A form of reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises, a major and a minor. Here’s an example
1- All bat’s drink blood and build airports
2- Johnny is a bat
3- Therefore Johnny drinks blood and builds airports
Here's another
1- All bat’s drink blood and build airports
2- Johnny does not drink blood or build airports
3- Therefore Johnny is not a bat.
I'm not sure if this is actually logically correct but my way of understanding the distinction between the major and minor premise is that the major premise ( usually put first) asserts a general rule while the second premise refers to a specific.
While syllogisms may seem trivial they have the advantage that if they are done correctly it is absolutely certain that IF ( often a big if) the premises are correct then the conclusion is correct. This means that if you can phrase your argument in the form of a syllogism you and the person you are arguing with can avoid some of the talking past one another which occurs in most complex debates. Of course a polite, reasonable opponent is still required for constructive discussion and those can be in short supply but nothing short of a miracle will fix that.
Here’s an example of how syllogisms can help.
1- It is wrong to send the country into debt in order to maintain spending while lowering taxes except in exceptional situations.
2- Conservatives are sending the country into debt in order to maintain spending while lowering taxes and it’s not an exceptional situation.
3- Therefore conservatives are doing something wrong.
Syllogisms can be a great tool for reducing the confusion that surrounds discussions by making it clearer what both parties have to establish. In an argument based around the above syllogism the proponent must prove 1 and 2 while the defendant must disprove one of the two.