The minor term is the subject term of the conclusion of a categorical syllogism. It also appears in the minor premise together with the middle term. Along with the major term it is one of the two end terms.
Example:
- Major premise: All men are mortal.
- Minor premise: Socrates is a man.
- Conclusion: Socrates is mortal.
The minor term is bolded above.
Famous quotes containing the words minor and/or term:
“To minor authors is left the ornamentation of the commonplace: these do not bother about any reinventing of the world; they merely try to squeeze the best they can out of a given order of things, out of traditional patterns of fiction.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“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)