If now we take the series of eight combinations of the letters A, B, C, a, b, c, and wish to analyse the argument anciently called Barbara, having the premises
| A = AB | (1) |
| B = BC, | (2) |
we proceed as follows—We raise the combinations marked a, leaving the A’s behind; out of these A’s we move to a lower ledge such as are b’s, and to the remaining AB’s we join the a’s which have been raised. The result is that we have divided all the combinations into two classes, namely, the Ab’s which are incapable of existing consistently with premise (1), and the combinations which are consistent with the premise. Turning now to the second premise, we raise out of those which agree with (1) the b’s, then we lower the Bc’s; lastly we join the b’s to the BC’s. We now find our combinations arranged as below.
| A | a | a | a | ||||
| B | B | b | b | ||||
| C | C | C | c | ||||
| A | A | A | a | ||||
| B | b | b | B | ||||
| c | C | c | c |
The lower line contains all the combinations which are inconsistent with either premise; we have carried out in a mechanical manner that exclusion of self-contradictories which was formerly done upon the slate or upon paper. Accordingly, from the combinations remaining in the upper line we can draw any inference which the premises yield. If we raise the A’s we find only one, and that is C, so that A must be C. If we select the c’s we again find only one, which is a and also b; thus we prove that not-C is not-A and not-B.
When a disjunctive proposition occurs among the premises the requisite movements become rather more complicated. Take the disjunctive argument
A is either B or C or D,
A is not C and not D,
Therefore A is B.
The premises are represented accurately as follows:—
| A = AB ꖌ AC ꖌ AD | (1) |
| A = Ac | (2) |
| A = Ad. | (3) |
As there are four terms, we choose the series of sixteen combinations and place them on the highest ledge of the board but one. We raise the a’s and out of the A’s, which remain, we lower the b’s. But we are not to reject all the Ab’s as contradictory, because by the first premise A’s may be either B’s or C’s or D’s. Accordingly out of the Ab’s we must select the c’s, and out of these again the d’s, so that only Abcd will remain to be rejected finally. Joining all the other fifteen combinations together again, and proceeding to premise (2), we raise the a’s and lower the AC’s, and thus reject the combinations inconsistent with (2); similarly we reject the AD’s which are inconsistent with (3). It will be found that there remain, in addition to all the eight combinations containing a, only one containing A, namely