syllogism (n.)
A syllogism is a logical model or formula
designed to express the relationships between interrelated values or
ideas. (See the example, under ‘premise’, below.)
premise
(n.)
In logic,one of two conditions --
major or minor premises -- that lead to the conclusion of a syllogism.
If a deciduous tree loses its leaves every year (major premise),
And if the oak tree outside my house is deciduous, (minor premise)
Then our oak tree is likely to lose its leaves this year. (conclusion)
In general usage, premise means a
precondition for an argument or an opinion to be true.
The
premise for your opinion about JFK’s foreign policy is that he hated all
Russians. But he didn’t!
presume (v.) presumption,(n.)
“: to think that something is true
without knowing that it is true”
(Merriam-Webster online)
We presumed it would be OK to pick apples
from the tree in her yard. (It wasn’t.)
“: to accept legally or officially
that something is true until it is proved not true”
The
law presumes an accused person to be innocent until or unless he is proved
guilty.
implicit (adj.)
Understood, even though not fully
revealed or expressed.
The
implicit basis for his opposition to abortion was political conservatism.
There
is an implicit sense of moral duty in Eleanor Roosevelt’s letters and essays.
proposition (n.)
Similar to an argumentative claim or
thesis statement, a proposition is an offer or proposal that something is true. The formation of American democracy hinged on the proposition that “all men were created equal.”
axiom (n.),
A widely
accepted rule or principle -- a fundamental law.
In mathematics or logic, an unprovable rule or first
principle accepted as true because it is self-evident or particularly useful
(e.g., “Nothing can both be and not be at the same time and in the same
respect”). ~ Merriam-Webster
axiomatic (adj.) means taken for granted or self-evident.
As
a rebel, you might try to bend certain rules that others take to be axiomatic.
exclude (v.) to leave out,
or, in social situations, to force out.
In set theory – in mathematics and logic – to exclude is to leave
something out of a class or set.
inductive (adj.) reasoning that
leads from examples or details to a principle or a conclusion.
Sherlock
Holmes’s inductive brilliance allowed him to look at everything in a room and
reconstruct the crime.
deductive (adj.) reasoning
that uses a principle in order to validate one or more examples or details.
disprove (v.) (antonym: prove!)
To show that something previously
taken to be true is actually false or wrong.
Angus
entertained fellow physicists by trying to disprove Einstein’s Theory of
Relativity.
