Diogenes Laërtius · fl. 3rd century CE
Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.76 — Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
Translation by R. D. Hicks (1925)
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.76
Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on the Stoics
A reasonable proposition is one which has to start with more chances of being true than not, e.g. “I shall be alive to-morrow.” And there are other shades of difference in propositions and grades of transition from true to false— and conversions of their terms—which we now go on to describe broadly. An argument, according to the followers of Crinis, consists of a major premiss, a minor premiss, and a conclusion, such as for example this: “If it is day, it is light; but it is day, therefore it is light.” Here the sentence “If it is day, it is light” is the major premiss, the clause “it is day” is the minor premiss, and “therefore it is light” is the conclusion. A mood is a sort of outline of an argument, like the following: “If the first, then the second; but the first is, therefore the second is.”
Cite this passage
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.76 (on the Stoics), tr. R. D. Hicks (1925)
https://whatwouldstoicsdo.com/passage/lives-of-the-stoics/7.76
Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book VII, tr. R. D. Hicks (Loeb, 1925). Text: Perseus Digital Library (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources and licences
In plain English
AI-written notesDefines a reasonable statement, one more likely true than false, and describes an argument as a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion, with an outline form called a mood. Logic terminology with no practical advice.
Older wording
- “major premiss”
- — the main if-then statement an argument starts from
- “minor premiss”
- — the second statement that triggers the conclusion
- “mood”
- — an abstract outline of an argument form
Themes and situations
- Judgements and impressions
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