Algorithmic decision of syllogisms

Abstract

A syllogism, also known as a rule of inference, is a formal logical scheme used to draw a conclusion from a set of premises. In a categorical syllogisms, every premise and conclusion is given in form a of quantified relationship between two objects. The syllogistic system consists of systematically combined premises and conclusions to so called figures and moods. The syllogistic system is a theory for reasoning, developed by Aristotle, who is known as one of the most important contributors of the western thought and logic. Since Aristotle, philosophers and sociologists have successfully modelled human thought and reasoning with syllogistic structures. However, a major lack was that the mathematical properties of the whole syllogistic system could not be fully revealed by now. To be able to calculate any syllogistic property exactly, by using a single algorithm, could indeed facilitate modelling possibly any sort of consistent, inconsistent or approximate human reasoning. In this paper we present such an algorithm.