Immediate Reasoning.
In the process of Judgment we must compare two concepts
and ascertain their agreement or disagreement. In the process
of Reasoning we follow a similar method and compare two
judgments, the result of such comparison being the deduction
of a third judgment.
The simplest form of reasoning is that known as Immediate
Reasoning, by which is meant the deduction of one proposition
from another which implies it. Some have defined it as:
reasoning without a middle term. In this form of reasoning
only one proposition is required for the premise, and from that
premise the conclusion is deduced directly and without the
necessity of comparison with any other term of proposition.
The two principal methods employed in this form of
Reasoning are; (1) Opposition; (2) Conversion.
Opposition exists between propositions having the same
subject and predicate, but differing in quality or quantity, or
both The Laws of Opposition are as follows:
I. (1) If the universal is true, the particular is true. (2) If the
particular is false, the universal is false. (3) If the universal is false,
nothing follows. (4) If the particular is true, nothing follows.
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II. (1) If one of two contraries is true, the other is false. (2)
If one of two contraries is false, nothing can be inferred. (3)
Contraries are never both true, but both may be false.
III. (1) If one of two sub-contraries is false, the other is true.
(2) If one of two sub-contraries is true, nothing can be inferred
concerning the other. (3) Sub-contraries can never be both
false, but both may be true.
IV. (1) If one of two contradictories is true, the other is false.
(2) If one of two contradictories is false, the other is true. (3)
Contradictories can never be both true or both false, but always
one is true and the other is false.
In order to comprehend the above laws, the student should
familiarize himself with the following arrangement, adopted by
logicians as a convenience:
Propositions
Universal
Particular
Affirmative (A)
Negative (E)
Affirmative (I)
Negative (O)
Examples of the above: Universal Affirmative (A): All men are
mortal; Universal Negative (E): No man is mortal;
Particular
Affirmative (I): Some men are mortal; Particular Negative (O):
Some men are not mortal.
The following examples of abstract propositions are often
used by logicians as tending toward a clearer conception than
examples such as given above:
(A) All A is B.
(I) Some A is B.
(E) No A is B.
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(O) Some A is not B.
These four forms of propositions bear certain logical relations
to each other, as follows: