syllogistic, a. (n.)
(sɪləˈdʒɪstɪk)
[ad. L. syllogisticus (Quintilian) or Gr. συλλογιστικός, f. συλλογίζεσθαι to syllogize: see -ic and -istic. Cf. F. syllogistique, Ital. sillo-, silogistico, etc.]
Of, pertaining to, of the nature of, or consisting of a syllogism or syllogisms.
| 1669 Gale Crt. Gentiles i. i. ii. §14 The more simple mode of philosophizing by Dialogues,..which was the main Logic used in al the Grecian..Scholes, before Aristotle brought in the syllogistic forme of Mode and Figure. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. v. 770 To put the Argument into a more Approveable Syllogistick Form, Whatsoever is Extended, is Body, or Corporeal; But Whatsoever Is, is Extended. Therefore Whatsoever Is, is Body, or Corporeal. And by Consequence there can be no Incorporeal Deity. 1697 tr. Burgersdicius' Logick ii. vi. 22 The Syllogistick Form is only an apt Disposition of the three Propositions for the necessary Collection of a Conclusion from the Premises. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 152 ¶10 If a disputed position is to be established, or a remote principle to be investigated, he may detail his reasonings with all the nicety of syllogistic method. 1821 Aldrich's Artis Logicæ Rudim. (ed. 2) 110 The harshness and apparent tautology of the formal syllogism has been one occasion of prejudice against the syllogistic system. 1855 Spencer Princ. Psychol. II. vi. vii. 73 So-called syllogistic reasoning passes into what is commonly known as reasoning by analogy. 1867 Fowler Deduct. Logic iii. iii. 90 We shall first enumerate and explain certain syllogistic rules (derived from the definition of a syllogism) which will exclude illegitimate moods. |
B. n. Reasoning by syllogisms; that department of logic which deals with syllogisms. Also pl. (see -ics). rare.
| 1833 Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1853) 135 Dr. Whately makes the process of reasoning not merely its [sc. logic's] principal, but even its adequate object;..In this view Logic is made convertible with Syllogistic. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. ii. v, The rest..welter amid Law of Nations, Social Contract, Juristics, Syllogistics. 1847 Sir W. Hamilton Let. to De Morgan 3 The principle of Syllogistic, afforded by the quantification—the expressed quantity—of the predicate. |