2.1.7 Preliminary discussion on "Syllogism" (1)

Syllogism is a commonly used inference method in people's daily life. This inference method involves the following three parts.

• Major premise
• Minor premise
• Conclusion

The discussion of syllogism can go deep into complex graphical methods, but here we only do some general discussion. If traders are interested in the in-depth content of syllogism, they can study the relevant knowledge of logic.

In order to understand some of the ways in which syllogism is used everyday, we present a simple example here.

• Major premise: Cattle is herbivore.
• Minor premise:The water buffalo is the cattle.
• Conclusion:The water buffalo is herbivore.

In daily life, people often use similar inference methods to judge things.

Traders often think in a similar way also, for example (the following is an example of a virtual “Lido Machinery” company stock):

• Stocks with low P/E ratios are stocks with low risk.
• Lido Machinery is a stock with a low P/E ratio.
• Lido Machinery is a stock with low risk.

This kind of inference seems reasonable, but in practical applications, many traders feel that they always make frequent mistakes. why?

Readers delve into the above two examples, and they will find a very interesting but serious problem, that is, the "major premise" as a proposition indicates a certain situation, but whether this situation is realistic or not, people generally do not go think deeply.

This is what was mentioned in the previous discussion of the proposition: the proposition is only responsible for whether the sentence itself conforms to a certain rule. Whether this proposition is realistic or not, it is not required.

[Thinking] In the usual way of thinking and judging, do you accept the conclusions of the "major premise" unconsciously?

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