Page - 83 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

HANADI (MANUAL) 83 Leading Idea 3: Hypothetical syllogism, if…..then…. A hypothetical syllogism is a series of two statements that has great importance in human reasoning. The basic form is a series of two statements joined by the connectors “if” and “then”. The first statement is introduced by “if” and this statement is called the premise. The second statement is introduced by “then” although we sometimes do not write or say “then”. This second statement is called the consequence. These are some clear examples: • “If it rains, (then) the streets get wet” • “If you study hard, you will pass the exam” • “If you pay attention in class, we will go on a trip” • “If I push the book, it will fall from the table” These examples are not so clear: • “Firefighters are very brave people” which is equivalent to “If you are a firefighter, then you are brave”. • “All mothers are women” is equivalent to “If you are a mother, then you are a woman”. This is a vital way of expressing causality relations: the premise is the cause and the consequence is the effect. We use it very often although we do not always use the logical connectors (“if…..then”) which help us express that relation more clearly. The hypothetical syllogism or conditional is a type of relation between two statements or premises, one of which establishes a relation of causality between two sentences like the ones we described before, while the other is a statement that derives from one of the two related sentences. For example Statement 1: If you study every day, you will pass the exam. • Premise: A) Studying every day • Consequence: B) Pass • Rule: The relation A establishes or implies B Statement 2: Pedro studies every day We can infer a conclusion from those two statements, which will be valid if both sta- tements are true and the rules of the syllogism are respected. When the second statement states that the premise in the first statement has happened, we may conclude that what is stated in the consequence will happen. Consequence: Pedro passes the exam. We constantly use this technique in everyday life in order to know why things happen and to predict what will happen in the future. We do so because experience or knowledge helps us establish a relation between the two statements. The rule also applies if we invert the statements in the following way: Rule: Denying A implies denying B Statement 1: If you study every day, you will pass (A implies B) Statement 2: Pedro does not pass (No B) Consequence: Pedro has not studied every day (No A) But beware! Supposing that a relation where A implies B is true only means that it is surely true in these two examples, but