Solving categorical syllogisms with singular premises

Authors: Politzer, Guy¹; Mercier, Hugo²

Source: Thinking & Reasoning, Volume 14, Number 4, July 2008 , pp. 434-454(21)

Publisher: Psychology Press, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

We elaborate on the approach to syllogistic reasoning based on “case identification” (Stenning & Oberlander, 1995; Stenning & Yule, 1997). It is shown that this can be viewed as the formalisation of a method of proof that dates back to Aristotle, namely proof by exposition (ecthesis), and that there are traces of this method in the strategies described by a number of psychologists, from Storring (1908) to the present day. We hypothesised that by rendering individual cases explicit in the premises, the chance that reasoners would engage in a proof by exposition would be enhanced, and thus performance improved. To do so, we used syllogisms with singular premises (e.g., this X is Y). This resulted in a uniform increase in performance as compared to performance on the associated standard syllogisms. These results cannot be explained by the main theories of syllogistic reasoning in their current state.

Keywords: Reasoning; Syllogism; Ecthesis

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13546780802407271

Affiliations: 1: CNRS-ENS-EHESS-Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France 2: ENS-EHESS-CNRS-Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France

Publication date: 2008-07-01

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