Logic - Deductive and Inductive by Carveth Read
page 39 of 478 (08%)
page 39 of 478 (08%)
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'horse.'_ They are partial or complete definitions.
But (c) there are also Real Propositions, whose predicates do not mean the same as their subjects, and whose import consists in affirming or denying one of five different kinds of matter of fact: (1) That the subject exists, or does not; as if we say _The bison exists_, _The great auk is extinct_. (2) Co-existence, as _Man is mortal_; that is, _the being subject to death coinheres with the qualities on account of which we call certain objects men_. (3) Succession, as _Night follows day_. (4) Causation (a particular kind of Succession), as _Water rusts iron_. (5) Resemblance, as _The colour of this geranium is like that of a soldier's coat_, or _A = B_. On comparing this list of real predications with the list of logical relations given above (chap. i. § 5 (a)), it will be seen that the two differ only in this, that I have there omitted simple Existence. Nothing simply exists, unrelated either in Nature or in knowledge. Such a proposition as _The bison exists_ may, no doubt, be used in Logic (subject to interpretation) for the sake of custom or for the sake of brevity; but it means that some specimens are still to be found in N. America, or in Zoological gardens. Controversy as to the Import of Propositions really turns upon a difference of opinion as to the scope of Logic and the foundations of knowledge. Mill was dissatisfied with the "congruity" of concepts as the basis of a judgment. Clearly, mere congruity does not justify belief. In the proposition _Water rusts iron_, the concepts _water_, _rust_ and _iron_ may be congruous, but does any one assert their connection on that ground? In the proposition _Murderers are haunted by the ghosts of their victims_, the concepts _victim_, _murderer_, _ghost_ have a high |
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