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
Here it may be well to explain that when reference is made to subject
or predicate the _logical_ subject or predicate is meant. Unless this
is constantly kept in mind error results; e. g., in the proposition,
“All white men are Caucasians,” the logical subject is “white men,”
not “men.” If the subject were “men,” it would be undistributed, as
the whole of the man family is not considered, but the actual subject,
being “white men,” _is_ distributed because the predicate refers to
_all_ white men.
Recurring to the illustration, “All men are mortal,” we have concluded
that the subject “all men” is distributed. The predicate, “mortal,”
however, is undistributed, as reference is made to it only in part;
i. e., there are other beings aside from men that are mortal, such as
“trees,” “horses,” “dogs,” etc. _In all A propositions of the type of
“all men are mortal,” the subject is distributed while the predicate
is undistributed._ This relation is clearly shown by the diagrammatical
illustration, Fig. 1. Here _all_ of the “men” circle is identical with
only a part of the “mortal” circle. In other words, the _whole_ of the
“men” circle is considered, while reference is made to only a _part_ of
the “mortal” circle.
_In the case of the co-extensive A both subject and predicate are
distributed._ Relative to the co-extensive “All men are rational
animals,” it could likewise be said that “all rational animals are
men,” or that “all men are all of the rational animals.” Reference is
thus made to _all_ of the definite predicate as well as to all of the
definite subject.
In the E propositions, such as “No men are immortal,” the whole of the
subject is excluded from the whole of the predicate. This makes evident
the fact that _both terms are distributed_. See Fig. 2.
The I proposition, such as “Some men are wise,” concerns itself with
only a part of the subject and only a part of the predicate,
_consequently neither subject nor predicate is distributed_. This
relation is verified by the representation, Fig. 3.
_In the O proposition the subject is undistributed, while the predicate
is distributed._ For example, in the proposition, “Some men are not
wise,” “some men” would indicate that only a part of the logical
subject is under consideration. But the predicate is distributed
because “some men” is denied of the _whole_ of the predicate, “wise.”
This may become clear by studying Fig. 4. Here all of the shaded part
which stands for the subject, “some men,” is excluded from the whole
of the “wise” circle. But all of the shaded part is only a part of the
entire “men” circle, consequently the subject which the shaded part
represents (some men) is undistributed. The predicate, “wise,” however,
is distributed, as the subject is excluded from every part of it. It is
well to remember that _not_, when used with the copula, distributes the
predicate which follows it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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