2. The blessed are pure in heart.
3. Therefore the blessed shall see God.
This is a valid syllogism so far as the form is concerned; but it is of no use in throwing light upon the truth or falsity of the enthymeme, because the conclusion with which we started was not the true conclusion. This fault is fatal to the success of the argument, because after the syllogism is completed the student usually devotes his entire attention to proving the truth or falsity of the two premises and seldom gives any further attention to the conclusion.
Another erroneous statement of the conclusion expressed in the above enthymeme is often given. It is “All those who are blessed shall see God.” With this conclusion as a starting point we may construct the following syllogism:
1. All those who are blessed shall see God.
2. The pure in heart are blessed.
3. Therefore the pure in heart shall see God.
Again we have an invalid syllogism, because the conclusion from which we built it is not the true conclusion expressed in the enthymeme. Likewise there are many pitfalls for him who seeks to find the true meaning of any statement worded in a manner different from that in which we are accustomed to speak. The very difficulty, however, suggests the remedy. The student should always reduce the complicated statement to plain, ordinary, everyday English before attempting to find the conclusion. Reducing the enthymeme under consideration in this manner we have this simple statement, “The pure in heart are blessed because they shall see God.” When we have put the statement in this form the real conclusion is readily seen. It is “The pure in heart are blessed.” The remainder of the enthymeme is a statement of the reason why the pure in heart are blessed. With this as a basis we easily construct a valid syllogism.
1. All those who shall see God are blessed.
2. The pure in heart shall see God.