Aristotle's foundational treatise on formal logic. The Prior Analytics develops the theory of the syllogism — the first systematic account of deductive reasoning, establishing the rules by which valid conclusions follow necessarily from their premises.
Start ReadingThe theory of the syllogism. Aristotle systematically identifies all valid forms of syllogistic inference across three figures, establishing the logical relationships between universal and particular, affirmative and negative propositions.
Applications and extensions of syllogistic theory. Aristotle examines modal syllogisms, the resolution of arguments into syllogistic form, and the relationship between syllogistic logic and scientific demonstration.