proposition 
tent prvpontiont, such u upon dellrerr of 
M! t/*wn *ftf>r * h*.iulw>me defence AT U*U- 
I . , -111 .1 nllAl 
illy fSiUd. Clawtat. Great Rebellion. 
3. A representation in thought or language of 
an act of the mind in thinking a quality or 
general sign, termed a predicate, to be applica- 
ble to something indicated, and termed a tub- 
.;<</. This connecting of predicate and subject may 
range from a mental necessity to a mere Impulse to look 
at a certain polb!Hty. These differences are called 
differences In the mode, or modality, of the proposition, 
according to which, as ordinarily stated, propositions are 
either it inette (that Is, the mode Is not considered) or 
modal, and In this case problematical, contingent, or <ipo- 
dietie. The modality may properly be said to affect the 
copula, or form of junction of the predicate and subject. 
The predicate, logically speaking, embraces the whole 
representation of the quality of the fact. Thus, in the 
proposition "Elijah was caught up to heaven," the gram- 
matical predicate is " was caught up to heaven " ; but 
tlif logical predicate includes the whole picture which 
the sentence conveys that of a man caught up to heav- 
en. The predicate, however, is not a mere picture ; it 
views the fact represented analytically, and distinguishes 
certain objects as identical with the subjects. There 
may be only one subject, or, if the predicate expresses 
a relation, there may be several. These subjects cannot 
be sufficiently Indicated by any general description, but 
only by a real junction with experience, as by a finger- 
pointing. In ordinary language they are for the most 
part but imperfectly expressed. In whatever way they 
are represented, they can commonly (in the last analysis 
always) be set forth in clasaes only ; from such a class the 
subject meant is to IK- taken in one or other of three ways : 
first, by a suitable selection, so aa to render the proposi- 
tion true ; secondly, by taking any one, no matter which ; 
thirdly, by taking no matter what one among a selected 
proportion of thoae which present themselves in experi- 
ence. The first mode of selection gives a particular prop- 
osition, as "An object can be selected which is a man 
caught up to heaven" ; the second mode gives a universal 
proposition, as "Take any object you please In this world, 
and it is not a man caught up to heaven "; the third mode 
gives a statistical proposition, as "Half the human beings 
In the world are women." If there are several subjects, 
the order of their selection is often important Thus, it 
Is one thing to say that having taken any man you please 
a woman can be found who was his mother, and quite an- 
other to say that a woman can be found such that, what- 
ever man you select, that woman was that man's mother. 
Several of the distinctions between propositions found in 
the old treatises are based on distinctions between the 
different categories (or, in modern logical language, tini- 
renet) from which the subjects are understood to be 
drawn. Such is the distinction l>etween iLcatfynriral prop- 
otMna. whose subject is denoted by a noun, and a hypo- 
tket ical proportion, whose subject is a hypothetical state 
of things denoted by a sentence. Such is also the distinc- 
tion between a synthetical proposition, whose subject Is 
drawn from the world of real experience, and may suitably 
be denoted by a concrete noun, and an analytic proposi- 
tion, whose subject Is drawn from a world of ideas, and 
may suitably be denoted by an abstract nonn. Proposi- 
tions are further distinguished according to the forms of 
their predicate*; but these distinctions, unlike those al 
ready noticed, merely concern the form under which the 
proposition happens to be thought or expressed, and do 
not concern its substance. The predicates of propositions 
are either simple, negative, or compound ; and in the lat- 
ter case they may conveniently be considered (by a slight 
fiction) as either disjunctive or conjunctive. 
A proposition Is a perfeicte sentence spoken by the Indic- 
ative mode, slgniftyng either a true thing or a false with- 
out al ambiguite or doubtfulnesse. 
1C ,'/.., .(I, Rule of Reason. 
Verbal propori/imu, which are words, the signs of our 
Ideas, put together or separated In affirmative or negative 
sentences. Locke, Unman Understanding, IV. v. .">. 
All that is necessary to constitute a proposition ls that 
it should Imply Inclusion or exclusion, attribution or non- 
attribution. Vritch, Int. to Descartes's Method, p. xxxv. 
4. In m<i th., a statement in terms of either a 
truth to be demonstrated or an operation to be 
performed. It la called a thtarm when It la something 
to be proved, and a problem when it is an operation to be 
done. Abbreviated prop. 
KM. What aaid he? How looked he? Wherein went 
he? ... 
CM. It Is as easy to count atomies as to resolve the propo 
sitiora of a lorer. Shot., As yon Like it. Ill '. 246. 
5. In rhet., that which is offered or affirmed as 
the subject of the discourse ; anything stated 
or affirmed for discussion or illustration; the 
first part of a poem, in which the author states 
the subject or matter of it : as, Horace recom- 
mends modesty and simplicity in the proposi- 
tion of a poem. 
It Is very disproportionate for a man to persecute an- 
other certainly for a proportion that, If he were wise, he 
would know is not certain. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 18S5X H- 376. 
Though that proposition had many degrees of truth In 
the beginning of the law, yet the case Is now altered : Ood 
hath established its contradictory. 
Jer. Taylor, Work* (ed. 1836X I. 806. 
6. In music: (a) The act or process of enun- 
ciating or giving out a theme or subject. Spe- 
cifically (fc) The subject of a fugue, as dis- 
tinguished from the numri-r Absolute, adversa- 
tive, affirmative, ampllatlve, analytical, apodlc- 
tic, auertory, binary, categorical, causal, cognate 
proposition. See the adjectives. Composite propo 
IlUon, a proposition consisting of several proposition* all 
1 at once.- Compound proposition, a proposl- 
4782 
i sitting of two or more propositions, 
copulutivcly. uisjiiiH u\ 1 1>, ronilitioiijilly, or otherwise. 
Comprehensive proposition, a propoalUoa in which 
the subject is regarded as a whole of logical comprehen- 
sion Including the predicate as a part. Conditional, 
connective, contradictory, contrary proposition. 
See the adjectives. Contrariety of propositions. 
See contrariety. Converted proposition, converting 
proposition. See wmwrt Copulative proposition, 
a proposition consisting of parts united by a copulative 
conjunction ; a composite proposition. Correlative 
proposition. See curreJalice. Cumulative proposi- 
tion, a proposition regarded a* a compound of singu- 
lar propositions, united conjunctively or disjunctively. 
Thus, "every man is mortal" is cumulative, as implying 
the Hist, the second, the third, etc., man to be, each of 
them, mortal. Descriptive proposition. See descrip- 
tive. Dialectic proposition, (a) A probable Interro- 
gation ; a problem suitable for discussion. (6) An assump- 
tion of what appears likely. Dllemmatlc, dlscretlve, 
disjunct, disjunctive, divided proposition. See the 
adjectives. Dual proposition. Same as binary propo- 
sition. See binary enunciation, under binary. Elemen- 
tary, equal, exceptive, exclusive, exemplar, ex- 
plicative, explicatory, explicit, exponent, exppnl- 
ble, extensive, false proposition. See the adjectives. 
Finite proposition, a proposition whose predicate Is 
not an infinitated term. Form of a proposition. See 
/orm. Fundamental, hypothetical, nyppthetico- 
disjunctive, identical, incident proposition. Hee 
the adjectives. Impossible proposition, a proposition 
which cannot be true. Indefinite proposition. See 
indefinite. Infinite proposition, a proposition whose 
predicate, affirmed of its subject, has the form of a nega- 
tive: as, Every devil is non-human. Intensive propo- 
sition. See intensive, Inventive proposition, a prop- 
osition de inesse. Loaves Of proposition t, In Jetriih 
antiq., the showbread. 
I'nder this fair heanen . . . there was the holy table, 
vppon whiche was set the holy bread, called the loaves oj 
proposition. 
Quernra, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 361. 
Local proposition. See local. Major proposition, a 
major premise. Minor proposition, a minor premise. 
Modal, necessary, negative proposition. Sec the 
adjectives. Numerically definite proposition, a prop- 
osition which states how many object*, at least, there are of 
a given description. Obligistic proposition, a propo- 
sition which has to be admitted in disputation owing to 
institution, petition, position, deposition, dubitation, or 
truth. Opposite propositions, propositions having the 
same terms but not identical : as, Some woman is mother 
of some man : Some woman is mother of each man ; Some 
woman is mother of every man ; Every woman is mother 
of some man ; All women are mothers of one man ; Every 
woman is mother of every man. Particular, perfect, 
practical, principal, privative proposition. See the 
adjectives. Possible proposition. Same asproWrtnoric 
propom'rion. Predicative proposition. Same as cate- 
gorical proposition. Probable proposition, a proposi- 
tion stating with more or less determinacy how often 
within a certain genus of events a certain specific event 
would be found to occur, In a given range of experience. 
- Problematic proposition, a proposition asserting 
something to be possible in some sense. Proposition de 
inesse. See def. a. Proposition de necessario, a prop- 
osition thought to be necessary. Such propositions were di- 
vided by the old logicians into(a) propositions de necessario 
conditional, which stated something to be necessarily true, 
provided a certain condition held ; (b) propositions de ne- 
cessario oimw/o. which stated something to be necessarily 
true at specified times: and (<) propositions de necessario 
rimpticiter, or categorical apodictic propositions. The lat- 
ter were further divided in to propositionsdV ru-cctsarinsitn- 
pliciter pro mine, or propositions stating something to be 
necessarily true now, and propositions de necessario n'm- 
jJicitfr pro semper, stating something to be always neces- 
sarily true. Proposition deomni, a universal proposi- 
tion. Proposition in sensu composite, a proposition 
in which the expression of the mode Is attached to the 
subject or predicate. Such a proposition, as remarked 
by -coins, is not, properly speaking, a modal but an or- 
dinary proposition concerning possibility. Proposition 
in sensu diviso, a proposition In which the expression 
of the mode is attached to the copula. Proposition per 
se, a proposition which asserts something to be essentially 
true that is, the universe Is a universe of essences, not of 
existence*. Four modes of such propositions are recog- 
nized by Aristotle : flrst, where the predicate is involved 
in the idea of the subject ; second, where the subject is 
Involved In the idea of the predicate: while the third and 
fourth modes are respectively mod esof exist ing and of caus- 
ing. Propositions of second adjacent, of third adja- 
cent. See adjacent. Pure proposition, a proposition 
not modal. Pythagorean proposition. See PyOtayore- 
an. Quantified proposition.aproposition in which the 
manner of selecting the subject Is fully expressed. Ra- 
tional proposition, a hypothetical proposition in which 
several categoricals are united by a causal conjunction. 
Reciprocating proposition, one which asserts two terms 
to be coextensive: as, ''Man" is identical with "rational 
animal." Relative proposition, a proposition whose 
predicate is a relative term. Remotive proposition. 
See remotioe. Restrictive proposition, a proposition 
with a restrictive clause: as, Christ, in hi* divine nature, 
Is omnipresent. Simple proposition, (a) Properly, a 
proposition whose predicate la simple : a*. There U a man. 
(6) I tually, a categorical proposition, or one expressed by 
mean* of a noun and a verb a* contradistinguished from a 
conditional propoaKon Singular proposition, a propo- 
sition whose subjects are single Individuals: as, Cain killed 
Abel.- Spurious proposition, a proposition one of tin- 
subjccUof which Isa character designated as one of those 
which belong to a given group. Thus, from the premises. 
Every European wants some character of Americans, 
and Every nobleman possesses some character other than 
those that are common to Americans, we can Infer, first, 
that every European wants some character different from 
some character common to noblemen, and that every noble- 
man posacmi a character different from some character 
wanting to in. These are spurious propo- 
sitions. - Statistical proposition,:! proposition which 
proppage 
states how many objects of one kind there are in connec- 
tion with each one of another kind, in the average of a 
certain line of experience. Subaltern proposition, a 
proposition asserting a part, and only a part, of what is 
asserted In another proposition. Snbcontrary prop- 
ositions, propositions which have the same terms 
and may be true together but cannot be false together. 
- Syllogistic proposition, a proposition forming part 
of a syllogism. -Synthetic proposition. -See sun- 
(Artie judgment, under tyntnetic. Temporal proposi- 
tion, a proposition consisting of two categorical** united 
by a temporal adverb. Ternal or trinary proposition, 
a proposition of third adjacent Theoretical proposi- 
tion, a proposition concerning the fact, not concerning 
what ought to be done. True proposition. See true. 
Universal proposition, a proposition whose subject 
Is any object whatever In the universe of discourse: 
as, Take any object you please, you will find It not a 
griffin. Every such proposition states the non-existence 
of something. If. In addition, It asserts the existence of 
something, it should be regarded as a composite propo- 
sition, partly universal and partly particular. But many 
logicians divide universal propositions into different spe- 
cies according as they do or do not assert the existence of 
their subjects. The result of this mode of treating the 
subject is a highly complicated doctrine. Unquantifled 
proposition, an indefinite proposition. =Syn. 2L Over- 
ture, etc. See propound 3 and 8. Position, thesis, state- 
ment, declaration, dictum, doctrine. /Voposirww differs 
from the words compared under subject, in that it is the 
technical word in rhetoric for the indication of the theme 
of a discourse. 
The proposition is that part of a discourse by which it* 
subject is denned. It Includes, therefore, but Is not re- 
stricted to, that which is termed proposition In the no- 
menclature of logic. It embraces all varieties of rhetorical 
form by which a subject Is indicated to the audience. An 
Interrogative may be in rhetorical dialect the prcpogirion. 
A. Phelps, Theory of Preaching, xx. f 1. 
prepositional (prop-o-zish'on-al), a. [(propo- 
sition + -al.} Pertaining to or constituting a 
proposition; considered as a proposition. 
If a proposition ascribing the nature of things has an In- 
definite subject, It is generally to be esteemed universal, 
in its propofitional sense. Watt*, Logic, II. ii. ft 1. 
In theology truth is prepositional tied up in neat par- 
cels, systematized, ana arranged in logical order. 
If. Ilrummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World, p. 362. 
Prepositional quantity. See mantity. 
propositionally (prop-o-zisu'on-al-i), nrfr. In 
the manner of a proposition. 
If he only uttered them [propositions) at random, or if 
they were only signs of emotion, they would not serve 
propositionally. Lancet, No. 8470, p. 7S7. 
propositionize (prop-o-zish'on-iz), r. '. ; pret. 
and pp. pro)>ositioi:etl ; ppr. jtrojiogitioitisiHi/, 
[<. proposition + -ice.J To make a proposition. 
To speak Is not merely to titter words, but to propnn- 
tionizt. Lancet, No. 3476, p. 787. 
propositum (pro-poz'i-tum), n. [ML., < L. pro- 
position, the first premise of a syllogism, an 
argument, neut. of propositun, pp. ot proponere, 
set forth: see propose , r., and y<r/iow, .] In 
medieval universities, a disputation concern- 
ing the canon law, which had to be performed 
by every bachelor in law. 
propostscutellar (prd-post-sku'te-lSr), a. [< 
propostscuteU-um + -flr-".] Of or pertaining to 
the propostscutellum. 
propostscutellum (pro-post-sku-terum), M. ; pi. 
iiropostscuteMi (-&). [NL., < L. ]>ro, before, + 
NL. postecutellum, q. v.] In cntom., the post- 
scut ellum of the pronotum; the postscutellar 
sclerite of the prothorax. 
propound (pro-pound'), r. t. [With uuorig. -<l, 
for earlier propoune, var. of /iropone, < L. pro- 
pouere, set forth, place before: see propone-. 
Cf. compound, expound.'] 1. To put forward; 
offer for consideration; offer; put or set, as a 
question; propose. 
If then he (the offender) appear not, they banish him, 
and propound a reward according to the greatness of the 
offence. Sandys, Travailea, p. 0. 
Give me leave to propound to you a second question. 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 1:0. 
2. Among Congregationalists, to propose or 
name as a candidate for admission to member- 
ship in a church. 
Be was . . . (with his wife) propounded to be admitted 
a member. H'intArop, Hist New England, I. i:;l. 
propounder (pro-pouu'der), w. [< fnfetMtd + 
-or'.] 1. One wno propounds; one who pro- 
poses or offers for consideration. 
The point of the sword thrust from him Iwth the propo- 
sitions and the pnpomden. HOton, Elkonoklastes. { 11. 
Some deny the Infallibility of the present church, and 
only make the tradition of all ages the Infallible pru- 
pounder. Ckillinyvorth, Works, I. 11'.'. 
2. A monopolist. Bhnint. (Hnlliinll.) 
proppage (i>roi>'aj>, u. [< /-MI/I + -.'/<.] That 
wh ifh props or supports; materials for prop- 
ping. 
Hat and stick were hlspnippa.'fr and balance-wheel. 
Carlntr. 
