LessonsSemantic Fallacies: Defects of Matter, Form, and PredicationQuiz

الإنسان له شعر، وكل شعر نبت
A human has hair, and every hair is something that grows.

The purported conclusion is الإنسان نبت
Therefore the human is a plant.

Having hair is not the same as being hair. The first premise concerns a part or possession of a human; the second concerns hair itself. The growth predicate belongs to hair, not automatically to the whole person.

At most one may conclude that a human possesses something that grows. A property of a part is not automatically a property of the whole.

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The hair example and its invalid conclusion

Semantic Fallacies: Defects of Matter, Form, and Predication

الإنسان له شعر، وكل شعر نبت
A human has hair, and every hair is something that grows.

The purported conclusion is الإنسان نبت
Therefore the human is a plant.

Having hair is not the same as being hair. The first premise concerns a part or possession of a human; the second concerns hair itself. The growth predicate belongs to hair, not automatically to the whole person.

At most one may conclude that a human possesses something that grows. A property of a part is not automatically a property of the whole.