LessonsSimple Conversion: Definition, Categorical Rules and ReductioQuiz

In “Some animals are not humans,” animals form a wider class while humans form a narrower subclass. Horses and birds make the original true.

The reversal “Some humans are not animals” demands a human outside the wider animal class. But every human belongs to that class.

Thus switching terms in a particular negative does not preserve exclusion in the way it does for two completely disjoint classes.

Opening interactive controls...

A wider subject explains failure

Simple Conversion: Definition, Categorical Rules and Reductio

In “Some animals are not humans,” animals form a wider class while humans form a narrower subclass. Horses and birds make the original true.

The reversal “Some humans are not animals” demands a human outside the wider animal class. But every human belongs to that class.

Thus switching terms in a particular negative does not preserve exclusion in the way it does for two completely disjoint classes.