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Syllogism set-membership: from ‘‘Some engineers are fools’’ and ‘‘Anand is an engineer’’ decide which conclusions about class overlap and the individual follow.

Difficulty: Medium

Correct Answer: Only conclusion I follows

Explanation:

Premises: (1) Some engineers are fools. (2) Anand is an engineer. Conclusions: (I) Some fools are engineers. (II) Anand is a fool.


Concept/Approach
‘‘Some engineers are fools’’ (E∩F ≠ ∅) is symmetric as a particular proposition; we can restate it as ‘‘Some fools are engineers’’ without loss.
Test Conclusion I
Direct conversion of a particular proposition is valid ⇒ I follows.
Test Conclusion II
Knowing only that some engineers are fools does not allow us to classify every engineer. Anand may or may not be in the overlap. ⇒ II does not follow.
Common pitfalls
Treating ‘‘some’’ as ‘‘all.’’ Particular statements never license universal individual claims without extra data.
Final Answer
Only conclusion I follows.
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