A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive (Vol. 1 of 2)Mill, John Stuart
Philosophy
A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive (Vol. 1 of 2)
Mill, John Stuart
Knowledge, Theory of; Logic; Science -- Methodology
be altered, since with them an Accidens has no connexion.
A Proprium, therefore, of the species, may be defined, any attribute which
belongs to all the individuals included in the species, and which,
although not connoted by the specific name, (either ordinarily if the
classification we are considering be for ordinary purposes, or specially
if it be for a special purpose,) yet follows from some attribute which the
name either ordinarily or specially connotes.
One attribute may follow from another in two ways; and there are
consequently two kinds of Proprium. It may follow as a conclusion follows
premisses, or it may follow as an effect follows a cause. Thus, the
attribute of having the opposite sides equal, which is not one of those
connoted by the word Parallelogram, nevertheless follows from those
connoted by it, namely, from having the opposite sides straight lines and
parallel, and the number of sides four. The attribute, therefore, of
having the opposite sides equal, is a Proprium of the class parallelogram;
and a Proprium of the first kind, which follows from the connoted
attributes by way of _demonstration_. The attribute of being capable of
understanding language, is a Proprium of the species man, since, without
being connoted by the word, it follows from an attribute which the word
does connote, viz. from the attribute of rationality. But this is a
Proprium of the second kind, which follows by way of _causation_. How it
is that one property of a thing follows, or can be inferred, from another;
under what conditions this is possible, and what is the exact meaning of
the phrase; are among the questions which will occupy us in the two
succeeding Books. At present it needs only be said, that whether a
Proprium follows by demonstration or by causation, it follows
_necessarily_; that is to say, it _cannot but_ follow, consistently with
some law which we regard as a part of the constitution either of our
thinking faculty or of the universe.
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