§ 325. Again, the distinction between genus and difference on the one
hand and property on the other is wholly relative to an assumed
definition. When we say 'Man is an animal,' 'Man is rational,' 'Man is
progressive,' there is nothing in the nature of these statements
themselves to tell us that the predicate is genus, difference, or
property respectively. It is only by a tacit reference to the accepted
definition of man that this becomes evident to us, Similarly, we
cannot know beforehand that the fact of a triangle having three sides
is its difference, and the fact of its having three angles a
property. It is only when we assume the definition of a triangle as a
three-sided figure that the fact of its having three angles sinks into
a property. Had we chosen to define it, in accordance with its
etymological meaning, as a figure with three angles, its
three-sidedness would then have been a mere property, instead of being
the difference; for these two attributes are so connected together
that, whichever is postulated, the other will necessarily follow.
§ 326. Lastly, it must be noticed that we have not really defined the
term 'accident,' not having stated what it is, but only what it is
not. It has in fact been reserved as a residual head to cover any
attribute which is neither a difference nor a property.
§ 327. If the five heads of predicables above given were offered to us
as an exhaustive classification of the possible relations in which the
predicate can stand to the subject in a proposition, the first thing
that would strike us is that they do not cover the case in which the
predicate is a singular term. In such a proposition as 'This man is
John,' we have neither a predication of genus or species nor of
attribute: but merely the identification of one term with another, as
applying to the same object. Such criticism as this, however, would be
entirely erroneous, since no singular term was regarded as a
predicate. A predicable was another name for a universal, the common
term being called a predicable in one relation and a universal in
another-a predicable, extensively, in so far as it was applicable to
several different things, a universal, intensively, in so far as the
attributes indicated were implied in several other notions, as the
attributes indicated by 'animal' are implied in 'horse,' 'sheep,'
'goat,' &c.
§ 328. It would be less irrelevant to point out how the classification
breaks down in relation to the singular term as subject. When, for
instance, we say 'Socrates is an animal,' 'Socrates is a man,' there
is nothing in the proposition to show us whether the predicate is a
genus or a species: for we have not here the relation of class to
class, which gives us genus or species according to their relative
extension, but the relation of a class to an individual.
§ 329. Again, when we say
(1) Some animals are men,
(2) Some men are black,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account