syllogism - deductive reasoning in which a conclusion is derived from two premises

assumption, premise, premiss - a statement that is assumed to be true and from which a conclusion can be drawn; "on the assumption that he has been injured we can infer that he will not to play"

minor term - the term in a syllogism that is the subject of the conclusion

middle term - the term in a syllogism that is common to both premises and excluded from the conclusion

categorisation, categorization, sorting, classification - the basic cognitive process of arranging into classes or categories