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6.1.5 Hypothetical Syllogism

Also referred to as the chain rule, hypothetical syllogism states that if one knows that ’if P then Q’, and ’if R then S’, then one can infer ’if P then S’. For example, if it is known ‘if it is raining, then it is cloudy’, and ‘if it is cloudy, then it is not sunny’, and ‘if it is not sunny, then it is cold’, then hypothetical syllogism allows us to infer that ‘if it is raining, then it is cold’. This works with any number of conditional statements, as long as they all follow this pattern.

Hypothetical Syllogism requires at least two references.