Four-Term Fallacy Equivocation Detector
Count distinct sense-specific term identifiers in a three-statement argument and flag exactly four terms.
Description
A categorical syllogism connects exactly three term meanings.
A categorical syllogism connects exactly three term meanings. Equivocation can make a repeated word act as two different terms, producing the traditional four-term fallacy.1
The tool returns distinctTermCount, fourTerms. Interpret the result under the rule and assumptions below; an encoded premise’s truth is not independently established.
When to use Four-Term Fallacy Equivocation Detector
Use this for the following task: Count distinct sense-specific term identifiers in a three-statement argument and flag exactly four terms. Prepare the specified logical encoding before running the check or transformation.
How to use Four-Term Fallacy Equivocation Detector and understand its results
- Prepare the requested Boolean values, complete truth-table rows, or identifier atoms. An atom is a name such as p or premise_1, not a natural-language sentence.
- Enter majorSubject, majorPredicate, minorSubject, minorPredicate, conclusionSubject, conclusionPredicate according to the field table, then run the tool.
- Read distinctTermCount, fourTerms. Use the matching rule, assignment order or nonempty-class assumptions below to interpret the result.
- For a false check, inspect the supplied encoding and matching rule. A well-formed false result is different from an input error.
| Input field | Meaning | Value type and bounds | Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| majorSubject | Major Subject | string; maximum text length 100; pattern ^(?!(?:true|false)$)[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$(?![\s\S]) | Required |
| majorPredicate | Major Predicate | string; maximum text length 100; pattern ^(?!(?:true|false)$)[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$(?![\s\S]) | Required |
| minorSubject | Minor Subject | string; maximum text length 100; pattern ^(?!(?:true|false)$)[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$(?![\s\S]) | Required |
| minorPredicate | Minor Predicate | string; maximum text length 100; pattern ^(?!(?:true|false)$)[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$(?![\s\S]) | Required |
| conclusionSubject | Conclusion Subject | string; maximum text length 100; pattern ^(?!(?:true|false)$)[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$(?![\s\S]) | Required |
| conclusionPredicate | Conclusion Predicate | string; maximum text length 100; pattern ^(?!(?:true|false)$)[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_]*$(?![\s\S]) | Required |
Assign distinct identifiers to distinct senses, then provide subject and predicate identifiers for both premises and the conclusion. Count exact identifier values and flag exactly four.
distinctTermCount = number of unique identifiers among six positions; fourTerms = count===4 The symbols and boundary conditions refer to the supplied fields and the implementation described above.
| Output field | Meaning | Value type |
|---|---|---|
| distinctTermCount | Distinct term count | integer |
| fourTerms | Exactly four distinct terms | boolean |
{
"input": {
"majorSubject": "M1",
"majorPredicate": "P",
"minorSubject": "S",
"minorPredicate": "M2",
"conclusionSubject": "S",
"conclusionPredicate": "P"
},
"output": {
"distinctTermCount": 4,
"fourTerms": true
}
}Limitations and assumptions
The tool cannot detect changes of meaning in prose. Counts of five or six return fourTerms=false even though those arguments do not have the required three-term structure.
The supplied encodings must represent the intended propositions or classes. No natural-language parsing or assessment of empirical premise truth is performed. Malformed input gives a tool error rather than a logical false result.
Alternative or Complementary methods
Choose Undistributed Middle Fallacy Detector when you need its operation: Detect an undistributed middle term in the two premises of a standard categorical syllogism. Choose Categorical Syllogism Mood-Figure Label Parser (EAE-1 etc.) for the complementary operation: Parse a categorical mood and figure such as AAA-1 into proposition kinds and standard S, M, and P term positions.
Background reference: Categorical Logic.
References
-
Categorical Logic — Philip B. Stark, University of California Berkeley
Similar or alternative tools
- Undistributed Middle Fallacy Detector
Detect an undistributed middle term in the two premises of a standard categorical syllogism.
- Categorical Syllogism Mood-Figure Label Parser (EAE-1 etc.)
Parse a categorical mood and figure such as AAA-1 into proposition kinds and standard S, M, and P term positions.