CHAPTER IV

THE CONNOTATION OF TERMS


§ 1. Terms are next to be classified according to their
Connotation--that is, according to what they imply as characteristic of
the things denoted. We have seen that general names are used to denote
many things in the same sense, because the things denoted resemble one
another in certain ways: it is this resemblance in certain points that
leads us to class the things together and call them by the same name;
and therefore the points of resemblance constitute the sense or meaning
of the name, or its Connotation, and limit its applicability to such
things as have these characteristic qualities. 'Sheep' for example, is
used in the same sense, to denote any of a multitude of animals that
resemble one another: their size, shape, woolly coats, cloven hoofs,
innocent ways and edibility are well known. When we apply to anything
the term 'sheep,' we imply that it has these qualities: 'sheep,'
denoting the animal, connotes its possessing these characteristics; and,
of course, it cannot, without a figure of speech or a blunder, be used
to denote anything that does not possess all these qualities. It is by a
figure of speech that the term 'sheep' is applied to some men; and to
apply it to goats would be a blunder.

Most people are very imperfectly aware of the connotation of the words
they use, and are guided in using them merely by the custom of the
language. A man who employs a word quite correctly may be sadly posed by
a request to explain or define it. Moreover, so far as we are aware of
the connotation of terms, the number and the kind of attributes we