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It is absurd to choose a pilot by lot;

It is, therefore, absurd to choose a general by lot. Here we have a specimen of reasoning from Example.

FALLACY.

§ 427. A FALLACY is a deceptive or unsound argument, by which a man is convinced, or endeavors to convince others, of what is not really proved.

THE UNDISTRIBUTED MIDDLE.

§ 428. White is a color

.

Every X is Y;

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The fallacy of the reasoning in these two syllogisms is evident. The middle term is not distributed. It is a rule that the middle term must be distributed once at least in the premisses (i. e., by being the subject of an universal, or predicate of a negative. See § 391), and once is sufficient; since if one extreme has been compared to a part of the middle term, and another to the whole of it, they must have both been compared to the same.

If the middle term is ambiguous, there are in reality two middle terms in sense, though but one in sound. An ambiguous middle term is either an equivocal term used in different senses in the two premisses, e. g.,

Light is contrary to darkness;

Feathers are light; therefore
Feathers are contrary to darkness,

or a term not distributed.

ILLICIT PROCESS.

§ 429. No term must be distributed in the conclusion which was not distributed in one of the premisses, for that would be to employ the whole of a term in the conclusion,

when you had employed only a part of it in the premiss; e. g., in the following there is an illicit process of the major term: All quadrupeds are animals. . . . Every Y is Z; A bird is not a quadruped; therefore. . No X is Y; A bird is not an animal

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.. No X is Z. In the following there is an "illicit process of the minor term :"

All independent persons deserve the elective suffrage;
Englishmen are independent persons; therefore
They deserve the elective suffrage.

If this Conclusion is proved, the minor premiss must imply that All Englishmen are independent. But this is not the case; and therefore the Argument is fallacious from the insufficient Induction of the Minor premiss.

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Here both premisses being negative, the middle is not said to agree with either of the other terms.

PETITIO PRINCIPII.

§ 431. PETITIO PRINCIPII is a name given to those fallacies in which the premiss appears manifestly to be the same. as the conclusion, or else is actually proved from the conclusion; as, To attempt to prove the existence of God from the Bible, when the Bible, since it professes to be a revelation from him, assumes his existence; or as when you prove the necessity of regeneration from the depravity of man, and then prove the depravity of man from the necessity of regeneration. This is arguing in a circle, and is sometimes called begging the question. In all cases of this kind there is an unduly assumed premiss.

IGNORATIO ELENCHI.

§ 432. IGNORATIO ELENCHI, or irrelevant conclusion. This fallacy consists in substituting for the legitimate conclusion one that resembles it; as, Cleon urged the justice of putting

certain revolters to death. Diodotus remarked, in reply, that this was nothing to the purpose, since the Athenians were not sitting in judgment, but in deliberation, of which the proper end is expediency.

EXAMPLES OF FALLACIES.

§ 433. 1. Projectors are unfit to be trusted; this man has formed a project; therefore he is unfit to be trusted. This coming under the head of an ambiguous middle is what is called Fallacia figuræ Dictionis. It is built on the Grammatical structure of language, from men usually taking for granted that Paronymous words, i. e., those belonging to each other, as the substantive, adjective, verb, &c., of the same root, have a precisely corresponding meaning, which is by no means universally the case.

2. A sophist persuades the multitude that a member of the House of Commons is bound to be guided in all points by the opinion of his constituents, and, in short, to be merely their spokesman; whereas law and custom, which may be regarded as fixing the meaning of the Term, require no such thing, but enjoin the representative to act according to the best of his own judgment, and on his own responsibility. The fallacy of this opinion rests on the fact that the Etymological meaning of the word represent is not the same with its customary meaning.

3. Three and two are two numbers; five is three and two; therefore five is two numbers. Here three and two are ambiguous, signifying, in the Major premiss, "taken distinctly;" in the Minor, "taken together."

4. Whatever is universally believed is true; the existence of God is not universally believed; therefore it is not true. Here the fallacy consists in an "illicit process of the major term."

5. "What is bought in the market is eaten; raw meat is bought in the market; therefore raw meat is eaten." Here we have the fallacia accidentis. The middle term is used in one premiss (the major) to signify something considered simply in itself; in the other premiss (the minor), to signify that its accidents are taken into account with.

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6. "To allow every man an unbounded freedom must always be, on the whole, advantageous to the State; for it is highly conducive to the interests of the Community that each individual should enjoy a liberty, perfectly unlimited, of expressing his sentiments." Here we have the fallacy of the petitio principii. In the latter part of the sentence, the very point is assumed as proof which is asserted in the first part; in other words, the premiss and the conclusion are identical. The English language is, perhaps, the more suitable for the fallacy of the petitio principii, from its being framed from two distinct languages, and thus abounding in synonymous expressions which have no resemblance in sound and no connection in etymology, so that a Sophist may bring forward a proposition expressed in words of Saxon origin, and give as a reason for it the very same proposition stated in words of Norman origin, as in the above example.

7. The Royal Society were imposed on, by being asked to account for the fact that a vessel of water received no addition to its weight by a live fish put into it; while they were seeking for the cause, they forgot to ascertain the fact, and thus admitted without suspicion a mere fiction. In this case the fallacy consists of an undue assumption of a premiss.

PART VI.

SYNTACTICAL FORMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

CHAPTER I.

DEFINITIONS.

434. SYNTAX, from the Greek oúv, with, rážis, arrange. ment, treats of the arrangement and combination of words in propositions and sentences. This arrangement and combi

nation of words constitute SYNTACTICAL FORMS.

Etymology deals with the forms of single words, Syntax with Groups of words. Etymology, by the analysis of propositions and sentences, teaches the office and power of the different parts of speech. Syntax teaches how, by synthesis, to combine the different parts of speech together in proposi tions and sentences, according to the laws of the language. In Etymology the parts of speech are determined, as we have seen, by the structure of propositions. A word is a Substantive, or an Adjective, or a Pronoun, or a Verb, an Adverb, a Preposition, a Conjunction, or an Interjection, according either to the place which it takes in a proposition or the relation it bears to one. And in Syntax, the rules for composing sen tences in which words are properly grouped together have, for the most part, a distinct bearing upon the proposition in some of its various forms.

So closely connected is Grammar with Logic, the former having originally grown out of the latter, that a thorough knowledge of syntactical forms can not be acquired without a knowledge of certain logical forms and logical terms. Part Fifth of this work is, therefore, to be viewed as strictly subsidiary and preparatory to Part Sixth. To that part the student is referred especially for the Definition of such Names as TERMS, SIMPLE TERMS, COMPLEX TERMS, PROP OSITION, COMPLEX PROPOSITION, COMPOUND PROPOSITION.

§ 435. SENTENCES may consist either of one proposition,

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