Unit Three: Reason, Logic, and Mathematics 3. óWomen lack the physical and psychological stamina to endure the stress of prolonged combat. Few women easily carry the 100 pounds of equipment that infantry soldiers now take into combat.ò (New York Times) This quotation will be evaluated by means of a syllogism so the first step is to identify two premises. The first premise would be: some women are not people who can easily carry the hundred pounds of equipment. This is explicitly stated within the quotation the only variation would be replacing ófew womenò with ósome women.ò The second premise is open to more interpretation. I found that the quotation implied (or implicitly stated) that all people who have physical and psychological stamina are people who can easily carry the hundred pounds of equipment. I feel that if the author had not intended for this assumption to be drawn he/she would not have included it.
syllogism example
Women of the volunteered National Military Service
I-EAOThere is a jump between carrying equipment and stamina so I feel the author saw a direct link between the two. Now all that is left is the conclusion: all women are not people who have physical and mental stamina. It seems as though óall womenò is implied because the quotation does not specify otherwise, it simply begins with ówomenò. Therefore, this is the syllogism that has been created: Some women are not people who can easily carry 100 pounds of equipment All people who have physical & psychological stamina are people who can easily carry 100 pounds All women are not people who have physical & psychological stamina This syllogism is invalid as a result of illicit distribution. The rule relating to this is fairly simple - if a term is not distributed in the premises it must not be distributed in the...