19th c. Logical Definitions of Enthymeme (Modern Enthymeme)


Kristen Seas ENGL 624/Sullivan Fall 2005 Purdue University	19th c. Logical Definitions - Enthymeme as Abridged Argument: Taken as the culmination of the influences I have attempted to map with this project, the following are the prevailing definitions of enthymeme as found in a few treatises on logical published in the 19th c., primarily in America. Their focus is primarily on the form of enthymeme, rather than its content. This formalist approach generally includes the following: All arguments are expressions of syllogistic reasoning The enthymeme is an abridged argument found in orginary discourse The enthymeme is a form of expression, not of thought Here are some of the views of enthymeme from the 19th century that capture the implications of the previous theories of discourse and its relationship to reason: *"When one of the premises is suppresed, (which for brevity's sake it usually is) the argument is called an Enthymeme." (Logic* 26)** "There are various abridged forms of Argument which may be easily expanded into regular Syllogisms; such as, The Enthymeme, which is a Syllogism with one Premiss suppressed. […] This is the ordinary way of speaking and writing." (Logic 114) "It is to be observed, that the Enthymeme is not strictly syllogistic; i.e. its conclusiveness is not apparentfrom the mere form of expression, till the suppressed Premiss shall have been, either actualy or mentally, supplied." (Logic 114) - Richard Whately, 1844 [1826] "For the most part in ordinary reasoning one Premise and sometimes two are suppressed; that is, they are not stated in the course of the argument. The reason is often a rhetorical one. It would be tedious to be constantly repeating what is so obvious as to be known and admitted by all. Logic however never supposes any thing; it requires all the Premises to be stated, and hence we must examine these abridged forms of argument." (556) - William Dexter Wilson, 1856 "A sentence which contains the materials of a syllogism, not technically expressed, has been called an enthymeme , or an enthymematic sentence. […] Let the enthymeme then be defined- an argument in the form in which it would naturally occur in thought or speech." (239-40). - William Thomson, 1863 "In a simple syllogism, in many cases, one or other of these premisses conveys a fact so well known that it may be taken for granted, and so it is suppressed, and thus is formed an abridged argument, called an enthymeme." (34) - Henry Coppée, 1858 "The difference between the enthymeme and the syllogism is only a difference between a contracted and an expanded form of expression; or between an elliptical and a fully explicated sentence. It is a difference of language only, and not in the least a difference of thought or of the relations of thought or knowledge; what is expressed in one being implied in the other." (444) - Noah Porter, 1869 "According to logicians, in general, a defective syllogism is a reasoning in which one only of the premises is actually enounced. It is, therefore, they say, called an Enthymeme, because there is, as it were, something held back in the mind." (275) "But Logic does not create new forms of syllogism, it merely expounds those which are already given; and while it shows that in all reasoning there are, in the mental process, necessarily three judgments, the mere non-expression of any of these in language, no more constitutes in Logic a particular kind of syllogism, than does the ellipsis of a term constitute in Grammar a particular kind of concord or government: But, secondly, Syllogism and Enthymeme are not distinguished as respectively an intralogical and an extralogical form; both are supposed equally logical. Those who defend the distinction are, therefore, necessarily compelled to maintain, that Logic regards the accident of the external expression, and not the essence of the internal thought, in holding that the Enthymeme is really a defective reasoning." (276) - Sir William Hamilton, 1876
Table of Contents: Project Description 19th c. Logical Definitions of Enthymeme Main Contentions of Project: Thought v. Language Logic v. Rhetoric Argument and Reason Syllogistic Reasoning Enthymeme as Abridged Argument Lost Translation - Missing Definition of Enthymeme Works Cited

Kristen Seas
ENGL 624/Sullivan
Fall 2005
Purdue University

19th c. Logical Definitions -
Enthymeme as Abridged Argument:

Taken as the culmination of the influences I have attempted to map with this project, the following are the prevailing definitions of enthymeme as found in a few treatises on logical published in the 19th c., primarily in America. Their focus is primarily on the form of enthymeme, rather than its content. This formalist approach generally includes the following:

All arguments are expressions of syllogistic reasoning
The enthymeme is an abridged argument found in orginary discourse
The enthymeme is a form of expression, not of thought

Here are some of the views of enthymeme from the 19th century that capture the implications of the previous theories of discourse and its relationship to reason:

"When one of the premises is suppresed, (which for brevity's sake it usually is) the argument is called an Enthymeme." (Logic 26)

"There are various abridged forms of Argument which may be easily expanded into regular Syllogisms; such as, The Enthymeme, which is a Syllogism with one Premiss suppressed. […] This is the ordinary way of speaking and writing." (Logic 114)

"It is to be observed, that the Enthymeme is not strictly syllogistic; i.e. its conclusiveness is not apparentfrom the mere form of expression, till the suppressed Premiss shall have been, either actualy or mentally, supplied." (Logic 114)

- Richard Whately, 1844 [1826]

"For the most part in ordinary reasoning one Premise and sometimes two are suppressed; that is, they are not stated in the course of the argument. The reason is often a rhetorical one. It would be tedious to be constantly repeating what is so obvious as to be known and admitted by all. Logic however never supposes any thing; it requires all the Premises to be stated, and hence we must examine these abridged forms of argument." (556)

- William Dexter Wilson, 1856

"A sentence which contains the materials of a syllogism, not technically expressed, has been called an enthymeme , or an enthymematic sentence. […] Let the enthymeme then be defined- an argument in the form in which it would naturally occur in thought or speech." (239-40).

- William Thomson, 1863

"In a simple syllogism, in many cases, one or other of these premisses conveys a fact so well known that it may be taken for granted, and so it is suppressed, and thus is formed an abridged argument, called an enthymeme." (34)

- Henry Coppée, 1858

"The difference between the enthymeme and the syllogism is only a difference between a contracted and an expanded form of expression; or between an elliptical and a fully explicated sentence. It is a difference of language only, and not in the least a difference of thought or of the relations of thought or knowledge; what is expressed in one being implied in the other." (444)

- Noah Porter, 1869

"According to logicians, in general, a defective syllogism is a reasoning in which one only of the premises is actually enounced. It is, therefore, they say, called an Enthymeme, because there is, as it were, something held back in the mind." (275)

"But Logic does not create new forms of syllogism, it merely expounds those which are already given; and while it shows that in all reasoning there are, in the mental process, necessarily three judgments, the mere non-expression of any of these in language, no more constitutes in Logic a particular kind of syllogism, than does the ellipsis of a term constitute in Grammar a particular kind of concord or government: But, secondly, Syllogism and Enthymeme are not distinguished as respectively an intralogical and an extralogical form; both are supposed equally logical. Those who defend the distinction are, therefore, necessarily compelled to maintain, that Logic regards the accident of the external expression, and not the essence of the internal thought, in holding that the Enthymeme is really a defective reasoning." (276)

- Sir William Hamilton, 1876

19th c. Logical Definitions - Enthymeme as Abridged Argument:

Table of Contents:

19th c. Logical Definitions -
Enthymeme as Abridged Argument: