Question

What is the mood and figure of the following argument? Some people are bankers. All bankers are in the business of finance, so some people are in the business of finance.

Answer 1

Some people are bankers.

All bankers are in the business of finance.

So, some people are in the business of finance

Step 1 - Identify the middle term, major premise and the minor premise.

Middle term - Common term present in both premises.

Major premise - The premise that contains the major term. Major term is the predicate of the conclusion.

Minor premise - The premise that contains the minor term. Minor term is the subject of the conclusion.

Premise - Some people are bankers.

Premise - All bankers are in the business of finance.

Conclusion - So, some people are in the business of finance

Some people - Subject of the conclusion (minor term)

Are in the business of finance - Predicate of the conclusion. (Major term)

The premise that contains the major term is the major premise and the premise that contains the minor term is the minor premise.

Standard form of categorical syllogism:

All bankers are in the business of finance. (Major premise)

Some people are bankers. (Minor premise)

So, some people are in the business of finance. (Conclusion)

Step 2 - Mood of the syllogism

All S are P (A)

No S are P (E)

Some A are P (I)

Some A are not P (O)

All bankers are in the business of finance. (A)

Some people are bankers. (I)

So, some people are in the business of finance. (I)

Mood - A I I  

Step 3 - Figure of the syllogism

Figure of the syllogism is the position of the middle term.

The middle term is 'bankers'. The middle term is the term that is present in both premises.

There are four types of figure in syllogism.

Figure 1 - Middle term - Predicate

Subject -   Middle term

Figure 2 - Predicate -   Middle term

Subject - Middle term

Figure 3 -  ​​​​Middle term - Predicate

Middle term -   Subject

Figure 4 - Predicate - Middle term

Middle term -   Subject

All bankers are in the business of finance.

Some people are bankers.

So, some people are in the business of finance.

In the major premise, bankers (middle term) is to the left of the predicate of the conclusion (business of finance.)

In the minor premise, bankers is to the right of the subject of the conclusion (some people)

The above argument is in the form of Figure 1.

Middle term - Predicate (bankers)   business of finance

Subject - Middle term. people (bankers)

The mood and figure of the argument - A I I - 1