User Doc for Syllogism Applet Calculator

Hint: You should print this document and step through it with the Applet before you.

Most of the Applet consists of labels with white text slots on the side or just below. The center pane has a Venn diagram. And the bottom panel has a button.

Entering a Syllogism

• Click on the button: Enter a Syllogism. A dialog box will appear.
• To make a text slot active, you may have to click in it.
• Enter two premises and a conclusion.
• NOTE: You don't have to enter the syllogism in standard form.

Proposition Format

• Enter a quantifier first: all, some, or no.
• After a space enter any letter to represent the subject term.
• After a space enter a copula: are or are_not.
• After a space enter any letter to represent the predicate term.

An Example

• All philosophy professors are academics with doctorates.
• This should be entered as: ALL P ARE A
• Where P is a place holder for the subject term: philosophy professors.
• And A is a place holder for the predicate term: academics with doctorates.

To Continue....

• Click the 'Accept ' button before the 'Close' button so the parser can check if all is well formed.
• To get answers often asked about a syllogism, click the labels. To see the Venn diagram, click anywhere on the diagram.

For Enthymemes

• Enter two premises or premise and conclusion. Leave the missing premise or conclusion slot blank.
• CAUTION: If you are entering a premise and a conclusion, enter the premise in the second premise slot NOT the FIRST.
• Remember to click 'Accept' before 'Close' on the dialog box.
• To get answers, click labels.....

For Sorites

• Follow procedure above to enter two premises of the sorites that have a term in common.
• The Applet will find the intermediate conclusion, if one can be derived.
• Next enter the intermediate conclusion and a premise from the sorites not previously used.
• Repeat this procedure until all the premises are used and the Applet has ground out the conclusion or it has stated that the sorites is invalid. (When it fails to grind out a valid conclusion the sorites is invalid.)

Labels on the Venn diagram:

• The buttons marked S, P and M to the right of the Venn diagram indicate the way the entered syllogism is labeled on a Venn diagram.

Antillogism:

• An antillogism for a valid argument must satisfy the following three steps:
  • There must be one and only one inequation. ( __!=0)
  • There must be a complementary pair- a term and its negation- in the two equations.
  • The remaining terms in the equations ( those not paired) must appear in the inequation with the same markings.