Abstract

_Mingli tan_ and _Qiongli xue_ are textbooks written during the late Ming and early Qing periods, and are the earliest examples of a systematic introduction to western logic The former describes logical reasoning and the basic structure of syllogism．In Verbiest' s _Qiongli Xue_(_Study of Fathoming Principles_) in its surviving form there is a section titled “General introduction to logical reasoning”．In _Qiongli xue_, the expression “litui”(reasoning) is used as the translation for the Latin word “syllogismus”, while in modern Chinese the word “syllogism” is often translated as “sanduanlun” (argument with three parts)．Looking at the Greek epistemology of this word, “litui” is a more accurate translation than “sanduanlun．” This article considers the sections in _Mingli tan_ and _Qiongli xue_ on logical reasoning and discusses the problem with translation of “syllogismus” in different contexts．It is pointed out with the help of concrete examples from _Qiongli xue_ that “syllogismus” means “reasoning” in a wider sense, while in the context of valid forms of reasoning, it means the particular structure of Aristotelian logical reasoning in three parts．