GENSLER’S STAR TEST AND SOME EXAMPLES OF ITS APPLICATION

Year 2015, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 180 - 187, 01.12.2015

Mustafa Yıldırım

Abstract

“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. 

Keywords

Star Test, Syllogism, Syllogistic Logic, Validity.

References

• 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.