A Class Room Logic: Deductive and Inductive, with Special Application to the Science and Art of Teaching — John Shaqi
A Class Room Logic: Deductive and Inductive, with Special Application to the Science and Art of TeachingMcNair, George Hastings
Philosophy
A Class Room Logic: Deductive and Inductive, with Special Application to the Science and Art of Teaching
McNair, George Hastings
Logic
Collective terms have been classified as general terms. It must
be borne in mind, however, that such may be made singular by some
modifying word. For example, _people_ is a general term, but _American
people_ is a singular term in that it refers to one people, being thus
limited by the word American.
=7. CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT TERMS.=
_A concrete term is a term which denotes a thing_; e. g., this man,
that tree, John Doe, denote in each case a thing. Man and tree, denote
many things. All are concrete.
_An abstract term is a term which denotes an attribute of a thing_;
e. g., whiteness, patience, squareness, are abstract terms.
Such words as red, honest, just, are concrete; while redness, honesty,
justice, are abstract.
On first thought it might be inferred that “red” is the name of
an attribute just as much as “redness.” This is a mistaken thought,
however, as when we use the word red we mean red something――an _object_
which is red in color, not the color itself. For example, in saying
the house is red, we refer to the thing that is red, not to the color
redness.
Descriptive adjectives, because they describe things, are concrete.
They do not alone name qualities of things, hence they are not abstract.
=8. CONNOTATIVE AND NON-CONNOTATIVE TERMS.=
_A connotative term is one which denotes a subject and at the same
time implies an attribute._ (A subject is anything which possesses
attributes.)
All concrete general terms are connotative because they denote subjects
and at the same time stand for certain attributes; e. g., “man” denotes
many subjects; in fact, it stands for all the men in the world; it also
implies rationality, the power of speech, power of locomotion, etc.
“Triangle” stands for all plane figures of three sides; it likewise
stands for the qualities, three-sided, three-cornered, etc. Both “man”
and “triangle” are connotative.
_A non-connotative term is one which denotes a subject only, or implies
an attribute only._ Such words as Boston, Columbus, The Elizabeth
White, denote a subject only. “Blueness,” “justice,” “width,” imply an
attribute only. All these terms are non-connotative. The words blue,
just, wide, are connotative. “Blue,” for example, denotes all blue
things, as the blue sky, the blue sea; at the same time “blue” implies
that something possesses the quality, _blueness_.
Generally speaking, proper and abstract nouns are non-connotative;
though such proper nouns as Mount Washington, Mississippi River, are,
no doubt, connotative, as they denote an object and imply at least one
attribute. In the case of Mount Washington an object is surely denoted,
and the attribute mountainous is implied. Any proper noun which conveys
definite information is connotative. It may be claimed that all proper
nouns give information. For example, to many _Boston_ indicates not
only an object, but the qualities common to a city. In reply it may
be said that “Boston” might indicate a boat, or a dog, or almost any
individual object.
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