Listen "Accuracy in Aristotle’s philosophy of logic"
Episode Synopsis
It is not an exaggeration to say that Aristotle (384-322 BC) made modern civilisation possible. He invented formal logic at a time where most of humanity could neither read nor write. If it wasn’t for Aristotle’s contribution to philosophy, we wouldn’t enjoy such a high standard of living nowadays. John Vespasian explains that, in his book “Prior Analytics,” Aristotle outlined the method for drawing correct conclusions; his method is called syllogism or syllogistic reasoning. A syllogism is a sequence of thoughts, ideas or statements that lead to an inescapable conclusion. Human intelligence can employ syllogisms (animals cannot, even the most intelligent) and, through programming, computers imitate what humans do naturally. Modern philosophers have criticised Aristotelian syllogisms because of their rigidity, but that’s precisely their key strength. The whole point of syllogisms is to lead to conclusions that are either true or false. Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/accuracy-in-aristotles-philosophy-of-logic/
More episodes of the podcast John Vespasian
Michel de Montaigne and human nature
16/10/2025
Michel de Montaigne’s thoughts on friendship
16/10/2025
The essays by Michel de Montaigne
14/10/2025
How Michel de Montaigne wrote his essays
09/10/2025