LessonsKinds of Argument: Syllogism, Premises, Conclusion and Three TermsQuiz

Previous lessons studied propositions, contradiction, and simple conversion. Now we ask how a new conclusion can be reached from things already known or assumed. A hujjah is an organized argument. Understanding the term “human” is conception; “Every human is an animal” is a proposition; deriving “Every human has a body” from linked propositions is inference. This lesson studies that third stage.

Opening interactive controls...

Kinds of Argument: Syllogism, Premises, Conclusion and Three Terms

Three argument types, with detailed treatment of syllogisms, minor/major premises, three terms, textbook exercises and inference errors Read the bilingual lesson for Kinds of Argument: Syllogism, Premises, Conclusion and Three Terms and test your understanding with a focused quiz.

Lesson

1. The next stage in studying proof

Previous lessons studied propositions, contradiction, and simple conversion. Now we ask how a new conclusion can be reached from things already known or assumed. A hujjah is an organized argument. Understanding the term “human” is conception; “Every human is an animal” is a proposition; deriving “Every human has a body” from linked propositions is inference. This lesson studies that third stage.

2. Three kinds of argument

The sixth source lesson names three kinds of hujjah: qiyas (syllogistic inference), istiqra (induction), and tamthil (analogy). In broad terms, qiyas draws a conclusion from linked premises; induction moves from examined instances toward a general claim; analogy transfers a likely judgment between relevantly similar cases. The source explains the structure of qiyas here and treats induction and analogy in a later lesson.

3. The basic definition of qiyas

As the source explains it, qiyas is an argument formed from propositions such that accepting them commits one to a further proposition. The premises must be appropriately connected. A conclusion must follow from that connection, not from desire or a guess. A first test of formal validity is whether one could accept the premises while denying the conclusion consistently.

4. A full syllogism first

The source’s central example can be laid out clearly:
Premise 1: Every human is an animal/living creature.
Premise 2: Every such living creature is a body.
Conclusion: Therefore every human is a body.
The first premise places humans among living creatures; the second places living creatures among bodies. The common term “living creature” connects the two steps.

5. Distinguishing premises and conclusion

A premise is a statement serving as the starting point of an inference; a conclusion is the statement derived from the relevant premises. In the example, the two general statements are premises and “Every human is a body” is the conclusion. The word “therefore” cannot make an otherwise disconnected statement follow.

6. Visualizing the connecting route

Imagine three nested classes: humans are within living creatures, and living creatures are within bodies. Thus humans are within bodies.
Human → living creature → body.
This is a teaching visualization of the source’s syllogism. The middle class provides the needed connection between the first and last classes.

7. What minor and major premises mean

The source calls the minor premise sughra and the major premise kubra. Their identities depend on the terms they contain, not merely on whether they are written first or second. The minor premise contains the subject of the conclusion; the major contains its predicate. In “Every human is a body,” the subject human occurs in the minor premise and body in the major premise.

8. Identify the conclusion first

Before identifying terms, isolate the conclusion: “Every human is a body.” Ask who or what it speaks about: human, the subject. Ask what is asserted: being a body, the predicate. The subject and predicate of the conclusion determine the minor and major terms. Their names do not describe word length or the sizes of the spoken phrases.

9. Minor term and major term

The minor term is the concept that serves as the subject of the conclusion. In the source’s example, it is human in “Every human is a body.” The same term appears in the minor premise “Every human is a living creature.” Start with the conclusion when searching for it.
The major term is the predicate of the conclusion. In “Every human is a body,” body is the major term and appears in the major premise. The label “major” is a logical role; it does not say that the term denotes a physically large object.

10. The role of the middle term

The middle term appears in both premises and is absent from the conclusion.
Minor premise: Every human is a LIVING CREATURE.
Major premise: Every LIVING CREATURE is a body.
Conclusion: Every human is a body.
The common term links the minor and major terms. Without the appropriate middle connection the claimed conclusion need not follow.

11. Identify all three terms together

For the source example:
Minor term: human — subject of the conclusion.
Major term: body — predicate of the conclusion.
Middle term: living creature — shared by the premises but not written in the conclusion.
The minor premise contains the minor term, and the major premise contains the major term.

12. Why the middle term disappears

The conclusion aims to connect human with body. Living creature is the route by which that connection is established, so the conclusion states the relation between the two outer terms rather than repeating the middle term. “The middle is the route, not the destination” is a learning analogy, not a replacement for the formal rule.

13. Do not reverse the outcome

The argument entails “Every human is a body,” not “Every body is human.” The class body is broader than the class human. A conclusion obtained from a syllogism cannot simply be reversed. This recalls the lesson on simple conversion of propositions.

14. Source exercise 1: from rational to body

Textbook exercise:
Every human is rational.
Every rational being is a body.
Therefore every human is a body.
Human is the minor term; body the major term; rational the middle term. In traditional logic natiq denotes rational capacity, not merely audible speech.

15. Source exercise 2: a negative conclusion

Textbook exercise:
Every human is a living creature.
No living creature is a stone.
Therefore no human is a stone.
The minor term is human; the major is stone; the middle is living creature. A negative conclusion does not change how the three terms are identified.

16. Source exercise 3: particular premises

Textbook exercise:
Some living creatures are horses.
Every horse neighs.
Therefore some living creatures neigh.
The minor term is living creature, the major term is neighing, and the middle term is horse. Since the first premise is particular, the conclusion here is also particular.

17. Source exercise 4: inspect the link

The source exercise states:
Some Muslims pray.
Every person who prays is beloved to God.
Therefore some Muslims are beloved to God.
Formally the middle term is “person who prays.” The exercise examines the valid inference pattern; confirming the theological truth of a premise is a separate question.

18. Source exercise 5: a universal negative

The fifth source exercise has the pattern:
Some Muslims shave their beards.
No beard-shaver is pleasing to God.
Therefore some Muslims are not pleasing to God.
The middle term is beard-shaver, and the inference has a particular negative conclusion. This teaches the logical form of the source’s premise; it does not establish that premise as an independent religious fact.

19. Source exercise 6: two universal premises

Textbook exercise:
Every person who prays performs prostration.
Every person who prostrates is obedient to God.
Therefore every person who prays is obedient to God.
The minor term is one who prays; the major is obedient to God; the middle is one who prostrates. The lesson concerns the structure of this inference.

20. A shared predicate is not enough

Invalid argument:
Every human is an animal.
Every goat is an animal.
Therefore every human is a goat.
The two groups share the broader class animal, but neither premise places humans within goats. Merely repeating a middle-looking word does not guarantee a valid syllogism; its logical arrangement matters.

21. Two particular statements may not connect

Another invalid inference:
Some students are athletes.
Some students have memorized the Quran.
Therefore some athletes have memorized the Quran.
The two “some” groups may or may not overlap. The premises do not force the overlap, so the proposed conclusion is not entailed. Repeated vocabulary alone is insufficient.

22. Valid form versus true premises

The validity of an argument’s form and the truth of its premises are different questions. “All A are B; all B are C; therefore all A are C” has a valid structure. If a premise is false or unverified, the structure alone does not establish the conclusion as a fact. This distinction is an explanatory logical qualification.

23. Preview of induction and analogy

The source names induction and analogy alongside syllogism. As a brief preview, induction generalizes from examined examples, analogy reasons from relevant similarity, and syllogism draws a conclusion that follows from linked premises. The formal treatment of induction and analogy belongs to a later chapter, not this source lesson.

24. A reliable procedure for solving exercises

For each syllogism: (1) write the premises separately; (2) determine the conclusion actually implied; (3) identify the subject and predicate of that conclusion; (4) call those the minor and major terms; (5) locate the term shared by premises but omitted from the conclusion; and (6) verify that the premises really entail the conclusion.

25. Recap and the next step

Hujjah derives a new statement from accepted information. The source names qiyas, induction, and analogy. In a qiyas, the minor and major premises are linked by the middle term; the subject of the conclusion is the minor term and its predicate the major term. Mastery means identifying those roles and testing whether a proposed conclusion actually follows. The next source lesson divides qiyas further.

Practice questions

Question 1

Which three kinds of hujjah does the source name?

  • Qiyas, induction, analogy
  • Conception, judgment, definition
  • Definition, description, difference
  • Subject, predicate, copula

Question 2

What is central to the definition of qiyas?

  • Matching vocabulary
  • The conclusion follows from accepted premises
  • Collecting a single example
  • Negating every sentence

Question 3

What follows from all humans being living creatures and all living creatures being bodies?

  • Every living creature is human
  • Every body is human
  • Every human is a body
  • No human is a body

Question 4

What is the subject in “Every human is a body”?

  • Living creature
  • Body
  • Every
  • Human

Question 5

What is the predicate of that conclusion?

  • Body
  • Human
  • Syllogism
  • Living creature

Question 6

Which is the minor term in “Every human is a body”?

  • Living creature
  • Human
  • Premise
  • Body

Question 7

Which is the major term in this syllogism?

  • Every
  • Human
  • Body
  • Living creature

Question 8

Which is the middle term?

  • Every human
  • Human
  • Body
  • Living creature

Question 9

How is the minor premise identified?

  • The premise containing the minor term
  • The longest sentence
  • The one with negation
  • Always the first written

Question 10

How is the major premise identified?

  • Necessarily a negative premise
  • The premise containing the major term
  • The sentence containing the conclusion
  • The longer premise

Question 11

Why is the middle term absent from the conclusion?

  • It is always a particle
  • It has no meaning
  • It connects the two outer terms
  • All words must be deleted

Question 12

What follows from all humans being rational and all rational beings being bodies?

  • Every body is human
  • No rational being is human
  • Every body is rational
  • Every human is a body

Question 13

What is the middle term in the rational/body example?

  • Rational
  • Every
  • Human
  • Body

Question 14

What follows from every human being living and no living creature being stone?

  • Every human is a stone
  • No human is a stone
  • Every stone is human
  • Some stones are human

Question 15

Which is the major term in that negative syllogism?

  • Living creature
  • Human
  • Stone
  • No

Question 16

What follows from some living creatures being horses and every horse neighing?

  • No living creature neighs
  • Every neighing thing is a horse
  • Every living creature neighs
  • Some living creatures neigh

Question 17

What is the minor term in the horse example?

  • Living creature
  • Horse
  • Neighing
  • Some

Question 18

What is the middle term in the horse example?

  • Living creature
  • Horse
  • All
  • Neighing

Question 19

What is the middle term in the source’s praying-Muslim argument?

  • Muslim
  • Some
  • Person who prays
  • Beloved of God

Question 20

What is the quantity of the conclusion in the textbook’s beard-shaving example?

  • Indefinite
  • No assertion
  • Universal
  • Particular

Question 21

What does the logical analysis of the textbook beard example establish?

  • What follows if the premises are accepted
  • A final resolution of jurisprudential differences
  • The same rule about every Muslim
  • Independent truth of every religious claim

Question 22

Which is the middle term in the praying/prostrating/obedient example?

  • Person who prays
  • Person who prostrates
  • Obedient
  • Every

Question 23

Why is the human/goat/animal inference invalid?

  • Living creature is not a noun
  • Both premises are negative
  • Belonging to one larger class does not imply inclusion in each other
  • The word every is absent

Question 24

What is necessarily entailed by some students being athletes and some being memorizers?

  • All students are both
  • Some athletes must be memorizers
  • No memorizer is an athlete
  • The overlap is not established

Question 25

What is the primary test for an inference?

  • Does the conclusion follow from the premises?
  • Are the sentences long?
  • Is the prose elegant?
  • Are the words difficult?

Question 26

What if an argument has valid form but a false premise?

  • The conclusion is independently established
  • Form and factual premise must be assessed separately
  • The form must be invalid
  • Words lose meaning

Question 27

Which of the three hujjah types receives detailed treatment here?

  • Only analogy
  • Only induction
  • Qiyas
  • None

Question 28

What is the introductory characterization of induction?

  • Switching subject and predicate
  • Converting a negative proposition
  • Joining two universal premises
  • Generalizing from examined instances

Question 29

What is the introductory characterization of analogy?

  • Inferring by relevant similarity between cases
  • Conversion of any universal
  • Defining the subject
  • Turning every negative into affirmative

Question 30

In “Some living creatures neigh,” what is the major term?

  • Horse
  • Neighing
  • Some
  • Living creature

Question 31

Does one repeated word always create a valid syllogism?

  • Only if both sentences are short
  • Yes, that alone is sufficient
  • No; its logical role and arrangement must be valid
  • Only if it is Arabic

Question 32

In “No human is a stone,” what is the minor term?

  • Living creature
  • No
  • Stone
  • Human

Question 33

What is a reliable way to identify the middle term?

  • Find the term shared by premises and absent from conclusion
  • Pick the longest term
  • Choose the conclusion’s predicate
  • Choose its subject

Question 34

Does writing “therefore” establish a conclusion?

  • Always
  • No; a valid relationship among premises is required
  • Only if it appears in a textbook
  • Only if the conclusion is negative

Question 35

Which proposition is most useful to isolate first when labeling terms?

  • Only the minor premise
  • Only the major premise
  • The conclusion
  • The longest statement

Question 36

If every A is B and every B is C, which conclusion follows?

  • No A is C
  • Every C is not B
  • Every C is A
  • Every A is C

Question 37

What follows from some A are B and every B is C?

  • Some A are C
  • No A is C
  • Every C is A
  • Every A is C

Question 38

What determines the names minor and major premise?

  • Number of words
  • Relationship to the conclusion’s minor and major terms
  • Religious subject matter
  • Page order

Question 39

The middle term is shared by premises and absent from the conclusion.

Question 40

Every argument containing “every” must be valid.

Question 41

Identify the minor term from the conclusion’s subject.

Question 42

The major term always denotes the physically largest object.

Question 43

Some living creatures being horses does not entail that all are horses.

Question 44

The word “some” in two premises must refer to identical individuals.

Question 45

A valid syllogistic form automatically proves each premise true.

Question 46

After naming three types of hujjah, the text explains qiyas in detail.

Question 47

In a negative conclusion the minor term is still the subject.

Question 48

Analyzing a textbook theological syllogism independently proves all its religious premises.

Open the interactive quiz