How can affirming the consequent be avoided?
You can avoid committing the affirming the consequent fallacy by remembering that in hypothetical syllogisms, the antecedent should be affirmed instead.
The correct way to form a valid affirmative hypothetical syllogism is:
- If P, then Q.
- P.
- Therefore, Q.
In this correct form of the syllogism, called modus ponens (or “affirming the antecedent”), the fact that the antecedent (P) is true logically requires that the consequent (Q) is also true.