306 Modality. [CHAP. XIIT. 



inductions to fall back upon in order to decide between these 

 alternatives, though, of course, the appeal to them would be 

 in strictness extralogical. But the mere existence of such an 

 ambiguity, and the fact that it can only be cleared up by 

 appeal to the subject-matter, are in themselves no real 

 difficulty in the application of the conception of modality to 

 universal propositions as well as to individual ones. 



12. Having noticed some of the ways in which the 

 introduction of modality into logic has been evaded or re 

 jected, we must now enter into a brief account of its treat 

 ment by those who have more or less deliberately admitted 

 its claims to acceptance. 



The first enquiry will be, What opinions have been held 

 as to the nature of modality ? that is, Is it primarily an af 

 fection of the matter of the proposition, and, if not, what is it 

 exactly ? In reference to this enquiry it appears to me, as 

 already remarked, that amongst the earlier logicians no such 

 clear and consistent distinction between the subjective and 

 objective views of logic as is now commonly maintained, can 

 be detected 1 . The result of this appears in their treatment 

 of modality. This always had some reference to the sub 

 jective side of the proposition, viz. in this case to the nature 

 or quantity of the belief with which it was entertained ; but 

 it is equally clear that this characteristic was not estimated 

 at first hand, so to say, and in itself, but rather from a con 

 sideration of the matter determining what it should be. The 

 commonly accepted scholastic or Aristotelian division, for 

 instance, is into the necessary, the contingent, the possible, 

 and the impossible. This is clearly a division according to 



1 The distinction is however by sity, says, &quot; certitudo ad cognitionem 



no means entirely neglected. Thus spectat : necessitas vero est in re&quot; 



Smiglecius, when discussing the mo- (Disputationes ; Disp. xin., Quasst. 



dal affections of certainty and iieces- xn.). 



