Formal analysis of the syllogism .
Developed in its original form by Aristotle in his Prior Analytics с 350 BC, syllogistic represents the earliest branch of formal logic. Syllogistic comprises two domains of investigation. Categorical syllogistic confines itself to categorical propositions and their variation with respect to modalities. Noncategorical syllogistic is a form of logical inference using whole propositions as its units, an approach traceable to the Stoics but only fully developed by John Neville Keynes (1852–1949).