Thought-Culture; Or, Practical Mental TrainingAtkinson, William Walker
Science
Thought-Culture; Or, Practical Mental Training
Atkinson, William Walker
Thought and thinking
Thus, A and E are _contraries_; I and O are _sub-contraries_; A and I,
and also E and O are _subalterns_; A and O, and also E and I are
_contradictories_.
The following will give a symbolic table of each of the four Judgments
or Propositions with the logical symbols attached:
(A) "All A is B."
(E) "No A is B."
(I) "Some A is B."
(O) "Some A is not B."
The following are the rules governing and expressing the relations above
indicated:
I. Of the Contradictories: _One must be true, and the other must be
false_. As for instance, (A) "All A is B;" and (O) "Some A is not B;"
cannot both be true at the same time. Neither can (E) "No A is B;" and
(I) "Some A is B;" both be true at the same time. They are
_contradictory_ by nature,--and if one is true, the other must be false;
if one is false, the other must be true.
II. Of the Contraries: _If one is true the other must be false; but,
both may be false_. As for instance, (A) "All A is B;" and (E) "No A is
B;" cannot both be true at the same time. If one is true the other
_must_ be false. _But_, both may be _false_, as we may see when we find
we may state that (I) "_Some_ A is B." So while these two propositions
are _contrary_, they are not _contradictory_. While, if one of them is
_true_ the other must be false, it does not follow that if one is
_false_ the other must be _true_, for both _may be false_, leaving the
truth to be found in a third proposition.
III. Of the Subcontraries: _If one is false the other must be true; but
both may be true_. As for instance, (I) "Some A is B;" and (O) "Some A
is not B;" may both be true, for they do not contradict each other. But
one or the other must be true--they can not both be false.
IV. Of the Subalterns: _If the Universal (A or E) be true the Particular
(I or O) must be true_. As for instance, if (A) "All A is B" is true,
then (I) "Some A is B" must also be true; also, if (E) "No A is B" is
true, then "Some A is not B" must also be true. The Universal carries
the particular within its truth and meaning. But; _If the Universal is
false, the particular may be true or it may be false_. As for instance
(A) "All A is B" may be false, and yet (I) "Some A is B" may be either
true or false, without being determined by the (A) proposition. And,
likewise, (E) "No A is B" may be false without determining the truth or
falsity of (O) "Some A is not B."
But: _If the Particular be false, the Universal also must be false_. As
for instance, if (I) "Some A is B" is false, then it must follow that
(A) "All A is B" must also be false; or if (O) "Some A is not B" is
false, then (E) "No A is B" must also be false. But: _The Particular may
be true, without rendering the Universal true_. As for instance: (I)
"_Some_ A is B" may be true without making true (A) "_All_ A is B;" or
(O) "Some A is not B" may be true without making true (E) "No A is B."
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