ABSTRACT
Syllogisms are very common forms of argument or reasoning. In conversation, and in discussion generally, there is a wise tendency to be brief, by omitting whatever is obvious to an intelligent person. A chain of syllogisms, as distinguished from a mere group of disconnected syllogisms, is characterized by the fact that each syllogism either supports, or is supported by, the other—there is real connection, or dependence, between them. A supporting syllogism is usually called, in relation to the supported or dependent syllogism, a prosyllogism; the dependent syllogism, in relation to its prosyllogism, is called an episyllogism. The main thing is to be able to recognize the real character of such chains of syllogisms, to analyse them into the constituent single syllogisms, and note their conformity or otherwise to the general rules of the syllogism.
