GENSLER’S STAR TEST AND SOME EXAMPLES OF ITS APPLICATION

Öz “Star test” is a method of checking the validity of syllogistic arguments devised and first introduced by Gensler in 1973. In his paper “A Simplified Decision Procedure for Categorical Syllogism”, Gensler contrasts “star test” with the set of rules traditionally used in checking the validity of syllogistic arguments. Gensler attempts to show that his method is more advantageous and functional insofar as syllogistic and deductive arguments are concerned. The aim of this paper is twofold: to introduce and evaluate Gensler’s “star test”. Its will be shown that while Gensler’s “star test” seems advantageous in some contexts, it is not a proper method for checking the validity of certain types of categorical syllogisms. 

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1. David Naugle, “Distribution of Terms: Parts of a Syllogism”. Available at: http://www3.dbu.edu/naugle/pdf/2302_handouts/parts_of_syllogism.pdf (Accessed: 2 March 2015).

2. Farabi, Short commentary on Aristotle's Prior analytics, trans. Nicholas Rescher, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1963.

3. Harry J. Gensler, “A simplified decision procedure for categorical syllogism”, Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic, Volume XIV, Number 4, October 1973, pp. 457-466.

4. Harry J. Gensler, Introduction to Logic, 2nd ed., New York and London: Routledge, 2010.