Глава LXIV. О термине, посылке и силлогизме

It should be borne in mind that logic has as its task to reason about proof. Proof is a syllogism. A syllogism consists of two true premises and a conclusion. For example, wanting to prove that the soul is immortal, I say: “everything that is in continuous motion is eternal.” This is the first parcel. Next, I express the second premise: “the soul is in continuous motion.” Then follows the conclusion: “therefore, the soul is immortal.” Each word of the premise is called a term, and the term is what the premise is divided into. For example, the premise reads: “everything that is in continuous motion is immortal.” "Everything" is called a term because it is part of the premise. The expression “what is in continuous motion” (το αειχινητον) is also called a term in a similar way. The term is equally called “immortal” and “is”. It should be borne in mind that the premises must necessarily be true, and the conclusion must correspond to the premises. In fact, if one of the premises or conclusion turns out to be false, then there will be a paralogism, not a syllogism. It should also be borne in mind that a simple name, a name, a word, a saying, a term - all these five different words in the subject are no different from each other, their difference lies only in the relation. For example, “man” as a simple designation is called a simple word, as a subject - a name, as occupying the place of a predicate - a verb (ρημα), as part of an affirmation and negation - a speech (φασις), as part of a premise and syllogism - a term. It should be noted that in a premise, whether affirmative or negative, the subject is called a name, and the predicate is called a verb. Take, for example, the statement “a man is walking”; here man is the subject and is called by the name; “walks” takes the position of a predicate and is called a verb. "Socrates is beautiful" (καλος εστι). "Socrates" is the subject and is called the name; “beautiful” takes the position of a predicate and is called a verb as part of a statement. Although the grammarians call “beautiful” a name, generally speaking, what is accompanied by the word “is” is a verb. It should be noted that the following five names: judgment, premise, question, objection, conclusion - do not differ at all from each other. In fact, when I simply say that “the soul is immortal,” this is called a judgment. When the expression “the soul is immortal” is taken as part of a syllogism, it is called a premise. When someone objects to this premise, saying: “How is it clear that the soul is immortal?” - this is called an objection. When we then turn again to inquiry and ask, “Is the soul really immortal?” - this is called a question. Finally, when a conclusion is drawn from the premises, this conclusion is called a conclusion. For example: “the soul is in constant motion; that which is in constant motion is immortal.” From these premises it is deduced: “therefore, the soul is immortal”; this will be the conclusion. You might be interested in: