Syllogism in which a negative conclusion is derived from a negative and an affirmative premise.
No M is P.
All S are M.
Therefore, no S is P.
For example:
No rectangle is a circle.
All squares are rectangles.
Therefore, no square is a circle.
The name “Celarent” is a mnemonic term, in which the vowels (e-a-e) indicate that all three statements are universal quantifications: the first premise is a negative (type “e”), the second affirmative (type “a”) and the conclusion is again a negative statement (type “e”).
For more information on this naming scheme, and on syllogisms in general, see the article on syllogisms in the glossary.
The following forms are the variants of Modus Celarent and can all be transformed back to it: