Question

Clearly Identify the Syllogistic Rule(s) broken and Name the Formal Fallacy or Fallacies committed in each of these argumentative Passages:

1) EAO-2

2) OOI-4

3) III-3

Answer 1

'syllogism' is a formal deductive argument consisting of just two premises, one called the 'major' premise, and the other called the 'minor' premise, claiming that a 'conclusion' follows if the premises are true. Since the 'form' of the four types of categorical propositions, A E I & O, express either category inclusion or exclusion of members in one class with members of another class, it is possible to harness this power of 'distribution' to formulate a conclusion from only two premises with absolutely certain validity.

Rules:

1)EAO-2

(Whatever S,P or M may be)

No non-S is M
All P is M

? Some P is not non-S

Rule 5 broken.

Rule 5: A negative premise requires a negative conclusion, and a negative conclusion requires a negative premise.

Fallacy = Drawing an affirmative conclusion from a negative premise. OR

Drawing a negative conclusion from affirmative premises. OR Any syllogism having exactly one negative statement is invalid.

2)OOI-4:

3) III-3: In III-3 syllogism, Rule 2 broken

Rule-2. In a valid categorical syllogism the middle term must be distributed in at least one of the premises.

In order to effectively establish the presence of a genuine connection between the major and minor terms, the premises of a syllogism must provide some information about the entire class designated by the middle term. If the middle term were undistributed in both premises, then the two portions of the designated class of which they speak might be completely unrelated to each other. Syllogisms that violate this rule are said to commit the fallacy of the undistributed middle.

Fallacy: Undistributed middle

Example:

        All sharks are fish
       All salmon are fish
       All salmon are sharks