IMPORT OF PROPOSITIONS. 



63 



advanced a step farther in complica- 

 tion. Let us first suppose the pro- 

 position to be universal, as well as 

 affirmative: "All men are mortal." 

 In this case, as in the last, what the 

 proposition asserts (or expresses a be- 

 lief of) is, of course, that the objects 

 denoted by the subject (man) possess 

 the attributes connoted by the predi- 

 cate (mortal). But the characteristic 

 of this case is, that the objects are no 

 longer individually designated. They 

 are pointed out only by some of their 

 attributes : they are the objects called 

 men, that is, possessing the attributes 

 connoted by the name man ; and the 

 only thing known of them may be 

 those attributes : indeed, as the pro- 

 position is general, and the objects 

 denoted by the subject are therefore 

 indefinite in number, most of them 

 are not known individually at all. 

 The assertion, therefore, is not, as 

 before, that the attributes which the 

 predicate connotes are possessed by 

 any given individual, or by any num- 

 ber of individuals previously known 

 as John, Thomas, &c., but that those 

 attributes are possessed by each and 

 every individual possessing certain 

 other attributes ; that whatever has 

 the attributes connoted by the sub- 

 ject, has also those connoted by the 

 predicate ; that the latter set of attri- 

 butes comtantly accompany the former 

 set. Whatever has the attributes of 

 man has the attribute of mortality ; 

 mortality constantly accompanies the 

 attributes of man.* 



* To the preceding statement it has been 

 objected, that " we naturally construe the 

 subject of a proposition in its extension, 

 and the predicate (which therefore may be 

 an adjective) in its intension, (connota- 

 tion) : and that consequently co-existence 

 of attributes does not, any more than the 

 opposite theory of equation of groups, cor- 

 respond with the living piocesses of thought 

 and language." I acknowledge the dis- 

 tinction lure dniwn, which, indeed, I had 

 myself laid down and exemplified a few 

 pages back (p. 60). But though it is true 

 that we naturally " construe the subject 

 of a proposition in its extension," this ex- 

 tension, or, in other words, the extent of 

 the class denoted by the name, is not ap- 

 Vrehend^d or indicated directly. It is both 



If it be remembered that every 

 attribute is grounded on some fact or 

 phenomenon, either of outward sense 

 or of inward consciousness, and that 

 to possess an attribute is another 

 phrase for being the cause of, or form- 

 ing part of, the fact or phenomenon 

 upon which the attribute is grounded; 

 we may add one more step to com- 

 plete the analysis. The proposition 

 which asserts that one attribute al- 

 ways accompanies another attribute, 

 really asserts thereby no other thing 

 than this, that one phenomenon al- 

 ways accompanies another phenome- 

 non ; insomuch that where we find 

 the latter, we have assurance of the 

 existence of the former. Thus, in 

 the proposition, All men are mortal, 

 the word man connotes the attributes 

 which we ascribe to a certain kind of 

 living creatures, on the ground of 

 certain phenomena which they ex- 

 hibit, and which are partly physical 

 phenomena, namely, the impressions 

 made on our senses by their bodily 

 form and structure, and partly men- 

 tal phenomena, namely, the sentient 

 and intellectual life which they have 

 of their own. All this is understood 

 when we utter the word man, by any 

 one to whom the meaning of the word 

 is known. Now, when we say, Man 

 is mortal, we mean that wherever 

 these various physical and mental 

 phenomena are all found, there we 

 have assurance that the other physi- 

 cal and mental phenomenon, called 

 death, will not fail to take place. The 

 proposition does not affirm when ; for 

 the connotation of the word mortal 

 goes no farther than to the occurrence 

 of the phenomenon at some time or 

 other, leaving the particular time un- 

 decided. 



apprehended and indicated solely through 

 the attributes. In the "living processes 

 of thought and langnage " the extension, 

 tiiough in this case rea ly thought of, (which 

 in the case of the preaicate it is not,) is 

 thought of only through tiie medium of 

 what my acute and courteous critic terms 

 the " intension " 



For further illustrations of this subject, 

 see Examination of Sir William Hamilton'M 

 Philosophy, ch. xxiL 



