For some reason I found this to be funny . Anyhow, I now challenge the next poster to write/plagiarize an even funnier syllogism. As for rules, the only stipulation is that it must be logically valid .
Nice little thread going here, however Iām not convinced by the validity of the first syllogism. Firstly it is an enthymeme, therefore missing out hidden premises. In full I would probably write it out:
P1. Knowledge is power
P2. Power corrupts
P3. Absolute power corrupts absolutely
C1. Be stupid
The definition of a logically valid argument is one which it is impossible for the premises to all be true and the conclusion false. However, in this case I donāt see why the conclusion is necessarily true. An evilly minded person could easy say the conclusion was C1. Be knowledgeable. Logicians seem to argue about value judgement statements and whether they can be said to be logical at all.
Hereās my one:
P1. The girl in the photograph is my grandmother
P2. The girl in the photograph is six years old
C1. My grandmother is six years old
Ben, you sneaky devil! I must now defend the validity of my statement!
Youāre correct, my syllogism is an enthymene, however, the hidden premise is not only āpower corrupts.ā Here it is in itās entirety:
Knowledge is power
Power corrupts
absolute power corrupts absolutely
Absolute corruption is unwanted
Be stupid
This statement is valid, but cannot be proven sound, as it is a value statment. To accept that corruption is unwanted is a subjective statement, which cannot really be proven. But, as far as validity is concerned, the syllogism works. There are other hidden premises, or values, as well- such as that the state of being stupid is more desirable than the state of corruption. I just figured a more succint version would be funnier.
And as for your syllogism, Ben, it too contains a hidden premise . It should read:
āThe lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of the understandingā
Therefore,
The lips of wisdom consume the ears of the understanding.
Regarding the first post, it might have been more appropriate to end with āknowledge corrupts,ā only because, ābe stupidā makes the ultimate assumption that all people fear corruption. A reality, which is often not the case.