Minor.- The Pope is a man ; Conclusion. Therefore the Pope is fal lible.
The major and minor terms are often called the premises, and the minor is sometimes called the argument. The premises are supposed to be intuitive, or at least incontestable, and the conclusion is established upon the axiom, that what ever can be predicated or affirmed of a genus, may also be predicated of every species comprehended under it ; and the like of species, and the individuals com prehended under them.
It is usual to denominate the two sub• jects, and the predicate, terms of the syl logism The generic word or sentence is called the middle term ; its predicate is the major term ; and the specific word or sentence is called the minor term. Thus, in the preceding syllogism the three terms are Major term. Fallible.
Middle term. All men.
Jlfinor term. The Pope.
Here it is not pretended, that all men should. upon every occasion reason ac cording to the rules of logic, any more than that a writer should upon all occa sions insert each individual member of a sentence, and leave nothing to be sup plied or understood But as the man who is a sound grammarian can analyse and parse every member of a sentence, and will write with order, precision, and correctness ; so will the logician, who is able to arrange the parts of an argument in mood and figure, be quick in discern ing the imperfect, defective, or inadmissi ble assertions, and will so dispose his own notions and principles, that his proofs shall be conclusive and clear. The works even of mathematical writers would, in instances, be benefitted by this severity of conduct ; and there are few indeed whicb.might not be rendered more perfect by strict logical examination and correction.
Mood and figure are words applied by logical writers to denote the arrange malt of the terms of a syllogism. It is done by the use of the letters A, E, I, 0, of which A denotes universal affirmative ; E, universal negative ; I, particular affirma tive; and 0, particular negative. But as it would be difficult to retain in the me mory the various changes in the order of these letters, if prefixed to the three parts of a syllogism, fourteen artificial words have been formed, of three syllables each, containing the vowels so to be prefixed in the order of the mood to be denoted by each word. The fourteen moods are
classed under these different figures, by which terms logicians mean to denote the particular situation of the middle term, with respect to the major and minor. The first figure is distinguished by the middle term being the subject of the major, and predicate of the minor proposition, and its four moods are de noted by the words Barbara, Celarent, Ferio. The second figure admits of negative conclusions only, the major being always universal, and one of the premises negative. Its moods are Cesare, Comes tree, Festino, Baroco. And in the third figure the middle term is the subject of both premises, the minor affirmative, and the conclusion particular. Its moods are Darapti, Felapton, Disamis, Datiri, Bo. cards, Ferison. We shall not extend our article to exemplify these moods, nor shall we proceed to give instances of the form and complexities of syllogisms, which systematic writers have been more solicitous to enumerate and name, than to analyze and develope. In like manner we shall pass over the consideration of the various sophisms treated of by them, because these objects would lead us too far, and their detection follows imme diately upon a statement of the premises and conclusions according to rule. And upon the whole, we shall conclude by observing, that though the old logic was burdensome, from the manner in which it had been suffered to enlarge itself yet, since much of our present modes of rea soning, and of the expressions made use of at the bar, in the senate, and among our best writers, are derived from its rules, and since the moderns, when they decried and rejected it, have not been solicitous to establish any determinate or correct system, we deem it entitled to more attention than has usually been paid to it.