Part III, Chapter 15: Of Syllogisms composed of more than Three Propositions
WE have already said that syllogisms composed of more than three propositions are generally called Sorites. Of these we may distinguish three kinds: —
1. Gradation, of which it is not necessary to say more than what has been said in the First Chapter of this Third Part.
2. Dilemma, of which we shall treat in the following Chapter.
3. That which the Greeks have called Epichirema (ἐπιχείρημα), which comprises the proof, either of one of the two first propositions, or both; and of this we shall speak in this Chapter.
As we are often obliged to suppress certain propositions as too evident, it is often, also, necessary when we advance doubtful ones, to connect, at the same time, the proofs with them, in order to restrain the impatience of those to whom we speak, who are often indignant when we attempt to persuade them by reasons which appear to them false or doubtful; for, although there be a remedy in the end, it is, nevertheless, dangerous to produce, even for a short time, that disgust in their minds; and, then, it is much better that these proofs should follow the doubtful propositions immediately, than that they should be separated from them. That separation produces another inconvenience very troublesome, which is, that we are obliged to repeat the proposition which we wish to prove. Hence, instead of the method of the schools—which is, to propose the whole argument, and then to prove the proposition which may present a difficulty—that which is followed in ordinary discourse is, to join to the doubtful proposition the proofs which establish them, which makes a kind of argument composed of many propositions; for to the major are joined the proofs of the major, to the minor the proofs of the minor, and then the conclusion is drawn.
We may thus reduce the whole oration for Milo to a compound argument, of which the major is—that it is lawful to slay one who lies in wait for us. The proofs of this major are derived from the law of nature, the laws of nations, and from examples. The minor is—that Clodius had lain in wait for Milo; and the proofs of the minor are, the equipage of Clodius, his train, &c. The conclusion is,—that therefore, it was lawful for Milo to slay him.
Original sin might be proved by the miseries of children, according to the dialectic method, in this way: —
Children can only be miserable as the penalty of some sin which they derive from their birth; now they are miserable; therefore, the cause of this is original sin. Then it would be necessary to prove the major and the minor; the major by this disjunctive argument—the misery of children can only spring from one of the four following causes:—1st, Sins committed previously in another life; 2d, The weakness of God, who has not the power to preserve them from it; 3d, The injustice of God, who inflicts it upon them without cause; 4th, Original sin. Now, it is impious to say that it springs from the three first causes; the fourth, therefore, alone remains, which is original sin. The minor, that children are miserable, is proved by enumerating their miseries.
But it is easy to see with how much more of beauty and of power St Augustine has set forth this proof, by comprehending it in a compound argument, in the following manner:—" Consider the number and the greatness of the evils under which children labour, and how the first years of their life are full of vanity, of afflictions, of illusions, of fears; then, when they grow up, and when they begin even to serve God, error tempts, in order to seduce them; labour and pain to weaken them; lust to inflame them; sorrow to cast them down; pride to lift them up; and who can represent, in a few words, all the various afflictions which weigh down the yoke of the children of Adam? The evidence of these miseries compelled pagan philosophers, who knew and believed nothing about the sin of our first father, to say that we were born only to suffer the chastisement which we had merited, by crimes committed in another life, and that thus our minds had been attached to corruptible bodies, as a punishment of the same nature with that which the Tuscan tyrants inflicted on those whom they bound, while alive, to dead bodies. But this opinion, that our minds are joined to bodies as a punishment for sins previously committed in another life, is rejected by the apostle. What, therefore, remains but that the cause of these appalling evils be either the injustice or impotency of God, or the penalty of the first sin of man? But, since God is neither unjust nor impotent, there only remains that which you are unwilling to acknowledge, but which you must acknowledge in spite of yourselves—that the yoke, so heavy, which the children of Adam are obliged to bear, from the time in which their bodies are taken from their mother’s womb till the day when they return to the womb of their common mother, the earth, would never have been, had they not deserved it through the guilt which they derive from their original.”