Which fallacy occurs when the premises are affirmative but the conclusion is negative?

• A. No conclusion follows from two negative premises
• B. Fallacy of Illicit Major
• C. Undistributed Middle
• D. Fallacy of Drawing a Negative Conclusion from Affirmative Premises

Answer: (D)

In categorical reasoning, you can’t validly infer a negative conclusion from two affirmative premises. If you have statements like “All A are B” and “All C are A,” the logical consequence is that all C are B—an affirmative relationship. Jumping to “No C are B” asserts there is no overlap between C and B, which directly contradicts what the premises actually entail. This misstep—drawing a negative conclusion from affirmative premises—is the fallacy at play.

For example: All poets are artists. All artists are humans. Therefore, no poets are humans. The premises actually require poets to be humans, so concluding that none are humans is invalid.