Genus and species, then, have a double relation. In denotation the genus
includes the species; in connotation the species includes the genus.
Hence the doctrine that by increasing the connotation of a name we
decrease its denotation: if, for example, to the definition of 'lion' we
add 'inhabiting Africa,' Asiatic lions are no longer denoted by it. On
the other hand, if we use a name to denote objects that it did not
formerly apply to, some of the connotation must be dropped: if, for
example, the name 'lion' be used to include 'pumas,' the tufted tail and
mane can no longer be part of the meaning of the word; since pumas have
not these properties.
This doctrine is logically or formally true, but it may not always be
true in fact. It is logically true; because wherever we add to the
connotation of a name, it is possible that some things to which it
formerly applied are now excluded from its denotation, though we may not
know of any such things. Still, as a matter of fact, an object may be
discovered to have a property previously unknown, and this property may
be fundamental and co-extensive with the denotation of its name, or even
more widely prevalent. The discovery that the whale is a mammal did not
limit the class 'whale'; nor did the discovery that lions, dogs, wolves,
etc., walk upon their toes, affect the application of any of these
names.
Similarly, the extension of a name to things not previously denoted by
it, may not in fact alter its definition; for the extension may be made
on the very ground that the things now first denoted by it have been
found to have the properties enumerated in its definition, as when the
name 'mammal' was applied to whales, dolphins, etc. If, however,
'mammal' had formerly been understood to apply only to land animals, so
that its definition included (at least, popularly) the quality of
'living on the land,' this part of the connotation was of course lost
when the denotation came to include certain aquatic animals.
A proprium is an attribute derived from the definition: being either (a)
implied in it, or deducible from it, as 'having its three angles equal
to two right angles' may be proved from the definition of a triangle; or
(b) causally dependent on it, as being 'dangerous to flocks' results
from the nature of a wolf, and as 'moving in an ellipse' results from
the nature of a planet in its relation to the sun.
An accident is a property accompanying the defining attributes without
being deducible from them. The word suggests that such a property is
merely 'accidental,' or there 'by chance'; but it only means that we do
not understand the connection.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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