PROPOSITIONS. Ill 



intend to affirm either that the Koran does come from 

 God, or that Mahomet is really his prophet. Neither 

 of these simple propositions may be true, and yet the 

 truth of the hypothetical proposition may be indis- 

 putable. What is asserted is not the truth of either 

 of the propositions, but the inferribility of the one 

 from the other. What, then, is the subject, and what 

 the predicate, of the hypothetical proposition? "The 

 Koran " is not the subject of it, nor is " Mahomet:" 

 for nothing is affirmed or denied either of the Koran 

 or of Mahomet. The real subject of the predication 

 is the entire proposition, " Mahomet is the prophet of 

 God ;" and the affirmation is, that this is a legitimate 

 inference from the proposition, "The Koran comes 

 from God." The subject and predicate, therefore, of 

 an hypothetical proposition are names of propositions. 

 The subject is some one proposition. The predicate 

 is a general relative name applicable to propositions ; 

 of this form " an inference from so and so." A 

 fresh instance is here afforded of the remark, that all 

 particles are abbreviations; since "If AisB, C isD," 

 is found to be an abbreviation of the following : " The 

 proposition C is D, is a legitimate inference from the 

 proposition A is B." 



The distinction, therefore, between hypothetical 

 and categorical propositions is not so great as it at 

 first appears. In the conditional, as well as in the 

 categorical form, one predicate is affirmed of one 

 subject, and no more : but a conditional proposition 

 is a proposition concerning a proposition; the subject 

 of the assertion is itself an assertion. Nor is this a 

 property peculiar to hypothetical propositions. There 

 are other classes of assertions concerning propositions. 

 Like other things, a proposition has attributes which 

 may be predicated of it. The attribute predicated of 



