Vocabulary Group #5 -- words to support argumentative writing and logic -- QUIZ on Tuesday, December 17

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.