THINGS DENOTED BY NAMES. 45 



CHAPTER III. 



OF THE THINGS DENOTED BY NAMES. 



§ 1. Looking back now to the commencement of our inquiry, let us at- 

 tempt to raeasui'e how far it has advanced. Logic, we found, is the Theory 

 of Proof. But proof supposes something provable, which must be a Prop^ 

 osition or Assertion ; since nothing but a Proposition can be an object of 

 belief, or therefore of proof. A Proposition is, discourse which affirms or 

 denies something of some other thing. This is one step : there must, it 

 seems, be two things concerned in every act of belief. But what are these 

 Things ? They can be no other than those signified by the two names, 

 which being joined together by a copula constitute the Proposition. If, 

 therefore, we knew what all names signify, we should know every thing 

 which, in the existing state of human knowledge, is capable either of being 

 made a subject of affirmation or denial, or of being itself affii-med or de- 

 nied of a subject. We have accordingly, in the preceding chapter, re- 

 viewed the various kinds of Names, in order to ascertain what is signified 

 by each of them. And we have now carried this survey far enough to be 

 able to take an account of its results, and to exhibit an enumeration of all 

 kinds of Things which are capable of being made predicates, or of having 

 any thing predicated of them: after which to determine the import of 

 Predication, that is, of Propositions, can be no arduous task. 



The necessity of an enumeration of Existences, as the basis of Logic, did 

 not escape the attention of the schoolmen, and of their master Aristotle, 

 the most comprehensive, if not also the most sagacious, of the ancient phi- 

 losophers. The Categories, or Predicaments — the former a Greek word, 

 the latter its literal translation in the Latin language — were believed to be 

 an enumeration of all things capable of being named ; an enumeration by 

 the summa genera, i. e., the most extensive classes into which things could 

 be distributed ; which, therefore, were so many highest Predicates, one or 

 other of which was supposed capable of being affirmed with truth of every 

 namable thing whatsoever. The following are the classes into which, ac- 

 cording to this school of philosophy. Things in general might be reduced : 



Ovda, Substantia. 



Tloadv, Quantitas. 



Iloidv, Qualitas. 



Tlp6g n, Relatio. 



Tloielv, Actio. 



HdcxEiv, Passio. 



ILoi), Ubi. 



HSre, Quando. 



Keiadac, Situs. 



"Exsiv, Habitus. 



The imperfections of this classification are too obvious to require, and 

 its merits are not sufficient to reward, a minute examination. It is a mere 

 catalogue of the distinctions rudely marked out by the language of. familiar 

 life, with little or no attempt to penetrate, by philosophic analysis, to the 

 rationale even of those conunon distinctions. Such an analysis, however 



