Page 220 - Services Selection Board (SSB) Interviews

216 Syllogism
The combination of the two different categories of classifications leads to four different premises as given in Table below.
Universal/ Particular Affirmative/ Negative
“All”, “Every”, “Any”, “Each” Universal Affirmative

“No” , “Not” “None” Universal Negative
Some, Many Particular Affirmative
Some not, Many not Particular Negative
The subject or the predicate can be either distributed or not distributed in the given premise.
The subject and the predicate are either distributed (indicated as yes) or not distributed (indicated as no) depending on
what kind of a statement it is . Table below shows the distribution pattern of the subject and the predicate.
Example Subject Predicate
Universal affirmative “All”, “Every”, “Any”, “Each” Yes No
Universal negative “No” , “Not” “None” Yes Yes
Particular affirmative Some, Many No No
Particular negative Some not, Many not No Yes
Please note that:
(i) Subject is distributed only in Universal statements.
(ii) Predicate is distribute in Negative statement.

RULES FOR DEDUCTIONS

1. Every deduction should contain three and only three distinct terms.
2. The middle term must be distributed at least once in the premises.
3. If one premise is negative, then the conclusion must be negative.
4. If one premise is particular, then the conclusion must be particular.
5. If both the premises are negative, no conclusion can be drawn.
6. If both the premises are particular, no conclusion can be drawn.
7. No term can be distributed in the conclusion, if it is not distributed in the premises.
Now lets take few examples to understand this:
Example 1: Find the conclusion of
(i) All Rats are Pats
(ii) All Pats are Cats
Solution: Now look at the minute details of each premise
(i) Here the first statement starts with “All” which is Universal affirmative hence it is a universal affirmative statement,
and the subject (Rats) is distributed but the predicate (Pats) is not distributed.
(ii) The second statement is also Universal affirmative, the subject Pats is distributed and the predicate Cats is not
distributed .
(iii) Here the middle term is Pats as it occurs in both the premises.
(iv) Middle term is Pats is distributed once in the premises (In this example Premise ii) hence it satisfies Rule [2] hence
we can find a conclusion.
(v) Conclusion will have two terms and these terms are “Rats” and “Cats”
(vi) As “Rats” is distributed in the 1st premises and “Cats” is not distributed,
(vii) In final conclusion “Rats” is distributed but “Cats” is not distributed.
Conclusion: All Rats are Cats
Note of Caution: The conclusion can not be All Cats are Rats as in this case we have distributed the