The Case for Teaching Syllogistic Logic to Philosophy Students

Abstract

Syllogistic logic is a superseded theory, so why bother to teach it? In fact, it has many benefits for general philosophy students. Some are virtues of syllogistic logic alone; others arise from the contrast between syllogistic and mathematical logics. Syllogistic is a better vehicle for teaching general notions such as validity and soundness. Its several techniques for checking validity allows students to distinguish validity from the procedures to check for it. It supports students’ readings of historical philosophical texts. The contrast with mathematical logics supports meta-logical discussion and reduces alienation as students find that some great dead logicians share their intuitions. In any case, syllogistic logic is not intellectually dead. The work of Blanché and Béziau demonstrates this.