In
argumentation theory
Argumentation theory, or argumentation, is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be supported or undermined by premises through logical reasoning. With historical origins in logic, dialectic, and rhetoric, argumentation theory, includ ...
, a term is that part of a statement in an argument which refers to a specific thing. Usually, but not always expressed as a
noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Organism, Living creatures (including people ...
, one of the requirements to informally prove a conclusion with a
deductive argument
Deductive reasoning is the mental process of drawing deductive inferences. An inference is deductively valid if its conclusion follows logically from its premises, i.e. if it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false ...
is for all its terms to be used
unambiguously. The ambiguous use of a term in a deductive argument may be an instance of the
fallacy of four terms
The fallacy of four terms ( la, quaternio terminorum) is the formal fallacy that occurs when a syllogism has four (or more) terms rather than the requisite three, rendering it invalid.
Definition
Categorical syllogisms always have three terms: ...
.
Concepts in logic
Term logic
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