108 NAMES AND PROPOSITIONS. 



future, do not constitute so many different kinds of 

 rising ; they are designations belonging to the event 

 asserted, to the sun's rising to-day. They affect, not 

 the predicate, but the applicability of the predicate to 

 the particular subject. That which we affirm to be 

 past, present, or future, is not what the subject signi- 

 fies, nor what the predicate signifies, but specifically 

 and expressly what the predication signifies ; what is 

 expressed only by the proposition, as such, and not by 

 either or both of the terms. Therefore the circum- 

 stance of time is properly considered as attaching to 

 the copula, which is the sign of predication, and not 

 to the predicate. If the same cannot be said of such 

 modifications as these, Caesar may be dead ; Caesar is 

 perhaps dead ; It is possible that Caesar is dead ; it is 

 only because these fall altogether under another head, 

 being properly assertions not of anything relating to 

 the fact itself, but of the state of our own mind in 

 regard to it ; namely, our absence of disbelief of it. 

 Thus " Caesar may be dead" means " I am not sure 

 that Caesar is alive." 



$ 3. The next division of propositions is into 

 Simple and Complex. A simple proposition is that 

 in which one predicate is affirmed or denied of one 

 subject. A complex proposition is that in which 

 there is more than one predicate, or more than one 

 subject, or both. 



At first sight this decision has the air of an absur- 

 dity ; a solemn distinction of things into one and 

 more than one ; as if we were to divide horses into 

 single horses and teams of horses. And it is true that 

 what is called a complex proposition is often not a 

 proposition at all, but several propositions, held toge- 

 ther by a conjunction. Such', for example, is this, 



