minor premiss
- noun
- /ˈmaɪnər ˈprɛmɪs/
- UK
:
premisa menor
- The minor premiss of the argument stated that Socrates is a man.
Examples
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In a classical syllogism, the minor premiss identifies the subject that is being applied to the major term.
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Every valid syllogism depends on both the major and minor premiss.
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In a classic syllogism, the minor premiss gives an example relating to a broader rule.
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The minor premiss states that all humans are mortal.
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In this argument, the minor premiss is crucial.
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The minor premiss asserts that all cats are mammals, thereby supporting the conclusion about felines.
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For the argument to hold, the minor premiss must clearly state the specific instance related to the major premise.
Synonyms
1
8.6
A statement in a logical argument that names the subject of the conclusion
A statement in a logical argument that names the specific subject
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositionally built from 'minor' + 'premiss' so a learner could guess it refers to a type of premise, but its precise logical meaning (the premise containing the 'minor term' in a syllogism) is technical and not fully predictable from general senses of 'minor' (e.g. 'less important') and 'premiss'. Because the term requires specific scholastic/logic knowledge and the sense of 'minor' is specialized here, it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Minor premiss comes from old logic where premiss means a statement and minor means the smaller or more specific one. Imagine a general rule plus a small example that fits it: that small example is the minor premiss because it holds the 'subject' used to reach the 'conclusion', so the phrase means the premise that contains the subject of the conclusion.