Middle Term

In logic, a middle term is a term that appears (as a subject or predicate of a categorical proposition) in both premises but not in the conclusion of a categorical syllogism. The middle term (in bold below) must be distributed in at least one premise but not in the conclusion. The major term and the minor terms, also called the end terms, do appear in the conclusion.

Example:

Major premise: All men are mortal.
Minor premise: Socrates is a man.
Conclusion: Socrates is mortal.

The middle term is bolded above.

Famous quotes containing the words middle and/or term:

    “Now, in my middle age,
    about nineteen in the head I’d say,
    I am rowing, I am rowing....”
    —Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    “Be near me when I fade away,
    To point the term of human strife,
    And on the low dark verge of life
    The twilight of eternal day.”
    —Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)