Note 137 — Chapter V · LOGIC OF THE STOICS.

(c) Refutation of fallacies. Next to describing inferences which are valid, another subject engaged the close attention of the Stoics, and afforded opportunity for displaying their dialectical subtlety. This is the enumeration and refutation of false inferences,137 and in particular the exposing of the many fallacies which had become current since the age of the Sophists and Megarians. In this department, as might be expected, Chrysippus led the way.138 Not that Chrysippus was always able to overcome the difficulties that arose; witness his remarkable attitude towards the Chain-inference, from which he thought to escape by withholding judgment.139 The fallacies, however, to which the Stoics devoted their attention, and the way in which they met them, need not occupy our attention further.140