Our panel of 91 professional philosophers has responded to

287
 questions about 
Language
27
 questions about 
Gender
284
 questions about 
Mind
81
 questions about 
Identity
574
 questions about 
Philosophy
2
 questions about 
Culture
43
 questions about 
Color
218
 questions about 
Education
151
 questions about 
Existence
58
 questions about 
Abortion
58
 questions about 
Punishment
32
 questions about 
Sport
77
 questions about 
Emotion
4
 questions about 
Economics
117
 questions about 
Children
170
 questions about 
Freedom
208
 questions about 
Science
68
 questions about 
Happiness
34
 questions about 
Music
80
 questions about 
Death
5
 questions about 
Euthanasia
110
 questions about 
Biology
221
 questions about 
Value
75
 questions about 
Beauty
110
 questions about 
Animals
24
 questions about 
Suicide
244
 questions about 
Justice
23
 questions about 
History
88
 questions about 
Physics
1280
 questions about 
Ethics
75
 questions about 
Perception
69
 questions about 
Business
39
 questions about 
Race
154
 questions about 
Sex
282
 questions about 
Knowledge
89
 questions about 
Law
67
 questions about 
Feminism
70
 questions about 
Truth
124
 questions about 
Profession
2
 questions about 
Action
36
 questions about 
Literature
51
 questions about 
War
96
 questions about 
Time
392
 questions about 
Religion
374
 questions about 
Logic
31
 questions about 
Space
134
 questions about 
Love
54
 questions about 
Medicine
105
 questions about 
Art

ask a question

recent responses

all topics

info

⚲

Question of the Day

Hello! I'd like to ask about syllogisms. I have a particular problem when understanding this certain syllogism: Some girls are single. Some girls are sad. Therefore, some girls are single and sad. While I think it is valid, I cannot fully make an accurate explanation as to why it is. Hoping somebody could help me. Thanks!

The syllogism in question is not valid. Nothing logically guarantees that the set of single girls and the set of sad girls overlap. Even if both sets have members, it does not follow that they have any members in common. Compare: Some polygons are squares. Some polygons are triangles. But it is false that some polygons are square triangles.