[lit-ideas] Re: Aristotle's Sillygistic

On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 2:03 PM, <jlsperanza@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> As P. Stone says, "Children should not learn to be Aristotelian.
> Aristotelian logic is flawed on a number of fronts. The fact that premises
> lead  to
> conclusion regardless is surely a basic drawback of Western Logic as from
> Aristotle onwards."
>

Wow, you have taken 'reading beteween the lines" to a[whole]nother level.


> In a message dated 1/11/2010 1:00:20 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
> pastone@xxxxxxxxx writes:
> Matthew: daddy, the cat is purring
> Dad: Yes, do  you know why?
> Matthew: Because he's a cat.
>
> --- but where's the middle  term. Shouldn't the answer be: "Because he is a
> purrer".
>

No, the syllogism is:

Cat's purr.
He is purring.
He's a cat.

It's the first term that's missing and the remarkable thing is... it's
understood and the 'understanding' and thus 'unstatedness' of it is what is
amazing in a 2 1/2 year old... at least to me, but I'm the parent, so I'm
incredibly biased.

p

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