Illicit major

Illicit major

Illicit major is a logical fallacy committed in a categorical syllogism that is invalid because its major term is undistributed in the major premise but distributed in the conclusion.

Example:
* All dogs are mammals.
* No cats are dogs.
* Therefore, no cats are mammals.

In this argument, the major term is "mammals". This is distributed in the conclusion (the last statement) because we are making a claim about a property of "all" mammals: that they are not cats. However, it is not distributed in the major premise (the first statement) where we are only talking about a property of "some" mammals: Only some mammals are dogs.

The error is in assuming that the converse of the first statement (that all mammals are dogs) is also true.

ee also

* Illicit minor
* Syllogistic fallacy


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