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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

In philosophy, a chain of successive syllogisms in the first figure so related that either the conclusion of each is the minor premise of the next or the conclusion of each is the major premise of the next. If the conclusions of all the successive syllogisms (except the last) are suppressed and only the remaining premises and the final conclusion are stated, the resulting argument is a valid inference from the stated premises. (For example: Some enthusiasts show poor judgment; all who show poor judgment make frequent mistakes; none who makes frequent mistakes deserves implicit trust; therefore, some enthusiasts do not deserve implicit trust.) In general, there may be n + 1 premises, and analysis then yields a chain of n successive syllogisms.

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