Aristotelian syllogisms and generalized quantifiers (Q918951)

The author shows that generalized quantifiers in two different senses are helpful in studying syllogistic. First, the discrepancy alleged by Bertrand Russell between the subject-predicate form of traditional categorical propositions and their modern quantificational translation disappears if we interpret quantificational phrases by means of generalized quantifiers. Second, the recognition that the four syllogistic operators can be constructed as generalized quantifiers, i.e. binary relations on the power set of the universe, sheds new light on Aristotle's achievement. Among other results, it turns out that in an axiomatization of syllogistic with empty terms, `some' and `every' can be interpreted as `at least n' and `given at least n, all' for any n, but that only for \(n=1\) are `some' and `every' dual.