sorites

American  

[saw-rahy-teez, soh-] / sɔˈraɪ tiz, soʊ- /

noun

Logic.

1. a form of argument having several premises and one conclusion, capable of being resolved into a chain of syllogisms, the conclusion of each of which is a premise of the next.

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sorites British  

/ sɒˈraɪtiːz, sɒˈrɪtɪkəl /

noun

1. logic

   1. a polysyllogism in which the premises are arranged so that intermediate conclusions are omitted, being understood, and only the final conclusion is stated

   2. a paradox of the form

      these few grains of sand do not constitute a heap, and the addition of a single grain never makes what is not yet a heap into a heap: so no matter how many single grains one adds it never becomes a heap

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Other Word Forms

• soritic
  adjective
• soritical
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of sorites

1545–55; < Latin sōrītēs < Greek sōreítēs literally, heaped, piled up, derivative of sōrós a heap

Example Sentences

The whole must needs follow by a sorites or induction.

From The Anatomy of Melancholy by Burton, Robert

In expanding the progressive form we have to commence with the second proposition of the sorites as the major premiss of the first syllogism.

From Deductive Logic by Stock, St. George William Joseph

Pauthier calls the paragraphs where they occur instances of the sorites, or abridged syllogism.

From The Chinese Classics: with a translation, critical and exegetical notes, prolegomena and copious indexes (Shih ching. English) — Volume 1 by Legge, James

But the sorites is a vicious sort of argument:—crush it, then, if you can, to prevent its being troublesome; for it will be so, if you do not guard against it.

From The Academic Questions, Treatise De Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations, of M.T. Cicero, With a Sketch of the Greek Philosophers Mentioned by Cicero by Yonge, Charles Duke

The regressive sorites, it will be observed, consists of the same propositions as the progressive one, only written in reverse order.

From Deductive Logic by Stock, St. George William Joseph