58 NAMES AND PROPOSITIONS. 



universal proposition, since the predicate, immortal, is denied of each 

 and every individual denoted by the term man ; the negative propo- 

 sition being exactly equivalent to the following, Evei-y man is not-im- 

 mortal. But " some men are wise," " some men are not wise," are 

 particular propositions ; the predicate wise being in the one case 

 affirmed and in the other denied not of each and every individual de- 

 noted by the term man, but only of each and every one of some por- 

 tion of those individuals, without specifying what portion ; for if this 

 were specified, the proposition would be changed either into a singu- 

 lar proposition, or into an universal proposition with a different subject; 

 as, for instance, " all instructed men are wise." There are other forms 

 of particular propositions: as, "ikZos^men are incapable of self-govem- 

 ment :" it being immaterial how large a portion of the subject the 

 predicate is asserted of, as long as it is left uncertain how that portion 

 is, to be distinguished from the rest. 



When the form of the expression does not clearly show whether the 

 general name which is the subject of the proposition is meant to stand 

 for all the individuals denoted by it, or only for some of them, the 

 proposition is commonly called Indefinite ; but this, as Archbishop 

 Wliately obsei-ves, is a solecism, of the same nature as that committed 

 by some gi-ammarians when in their list of genders they enumerate the 

 doubtful gender. The speaker must mean to assert the proposition 

 either as an universal or as a particular proposition, though he has 

 failed to declare which : and it often happens that though the words 

 do not show which of the two he intends, the context, or the custom 

 of speech, supplies the deficiency. Thus, when it is affirmed that 

 " Man is mortal," nobody doubts that the assertion is intended of all 

 human beings, and the word indicative of universality is commonly 

 omitted only because the meaning is evident without it. 



When a general name stands for each and every individual which it 

 is a name of, or in other words, which it denotes, it is said by logicians 

 to be distribzited, or taken distributively. Thus, in the proposition, 

 All men are mortal, the subject, Man, is distributed, because mortality 

 is affirmed of each and every man. The predicate Mortal, is not dis- 

 tributed, because the only mortals who are spoken of in the proposition 

 are those who happen to be men ; while the word may, for aught that 

 appears (and in fact does), comprehend under it an indefinite number 

 of objects besides men. In the proposition, Some men are mortal, 

 both the predicate and the subject are undistributed. In the following, 

 No men are perfect, both the predicate and subject are distributed. 

 Not only is the attribute perfection denied of the entire class Man, 

 but that class is severed and cast out from the whole of the class Per- 

 fect, and not merely from some part of that class. 



This phraseology, which is of great service in stating and demon- 

 strating the rules of the syllogism, enables us to express very con- 

 cisely the definitions of an universal and a particular proposition. An 

 universal proposition is that of which the subject is distributed ; a par- 

 ticular proposition is that of which the subject is vmdistributed. 



There are many more distinctions among propositions than those we 

 have here stated, some of them of considerable importance. But, for 

 explaining and illustrating these, more suitable opportunities will occiir 

 in the sequel. 



