t: a subject is referred to a
class the attributes of which are assumed to be definitely known.
Thus:--

He was too ambitious to be scrupulous in his choice of means.

He was too impulsive not to have made many blunders.

Each of these sentences contains a conclusion and an enthymematic
argument in support of it. The hearer is understood to have in his
mind a definite idea of the degree of ambition at which a man ceases
to be scrupulous, or the degree of impulsiveness that is incompatible
with accuracy.

One form of enthymeme is so common in modern rhetoric as to deserve
a distinctive name. It may be called the ENTHYMEME OF THE ABSTRACTLY
DENOMINATED PRINCIPLE. A conclusion is declared to be at variance with
the principles of Political Economy, or contrary to the doctrine of
Evolution, or inconsistent with Heredity, or a violation of the sacred
principle of Freedom of Contract. It is assumed that the hearer is
familiar with the principles referred to. As a safeguard against
fallacy, it may be well to make the principle explicit in a
proposition uniform with the conclusion.

CHAPTER VI.

THE UTILITY OF THE SYLLOGISM.

The main use of the Syllogism is in dealing with incompletely
expressed or elliptical arguments from general principals. This may be
called Enthymematic argument, understanding by Enthymeme an argument
with only one premiss put forward or hinted at, the other being held
in the mind. In order to test whether such reasoning is sound
or unsound, it is of advantage to make the argument explicit in
Syllogistic form.

There have been heaps and mazes of discussion about the use of the
Syllogism, much of it being profitable as a warning against the
neglect of Formal Logic. Again and again it has been demonstrated that
the Syllogism is useless for certain purposes, and from this it has
been concluded that the Syllogism is of no use at all.

The inventor of the Syllogism had a definite practical purpose, to get
at the simplest, most convincing, undeniable and irresistible way
of putting admitted or self-evident propositions so that their
implication should be apparent. His ambition was to furnish a method
for the Yes and No Dialectician, and the expounder of science from
self-evident principles. A question being put up for discussion, it
was an advantage to analyse it, and formulate the necessary premisses:
you could then better direct your interrogations or guard your
answers. The analysis