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5 Categorical Propositions

The document discusses categorical propositions in classical logic. It explains that there are two quantities (universal and particular), two qualities (affirmative and negative), and how these determine the four basic proposition forms - All, No, Some, Some ... not. It also discusses the concept of distribution, which refers to whether a term is distributed across an entire class. The document provides examples and Venn diagrams to illustrate each proposition form and the relationships between subject and predicate terms.

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Jan Sheer Shah
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48 views13 pages

5 Categorical Propositions

The document discusses categorical propositions in classical logic. It explains that there are two quantities (universal and particular), two qualities (affirmative and negative), and how these determine the four basic proposition forms - All, No, Some, Some ... not. It also discusses the concept of distribution, which refers to whether a term is distributed across an entire class. The document provides examples and Venn diagrams to illustrate each proposition form and the relationships between subject and predicate terms.

Uploaded by

Jan Sheer Shah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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5 Categorical Propositions

A proposition that can be


analyzed as being about
classes / categories, affirming
or denying that one class ‘S’
is included in some other class
‘P’
Classical Logic
Vs
Symbolic Logic
Quantity, Quality, and Distribution

Quantities: there are just two quantities:


1 Universal (All or None)
2 Particular (Some … at least one).

Qualities: there are just two qualities:


1 Affirmative
2 Negative
Quantity, Quality and Distribution

Proposition Letter Name Quantity Quality


All S are P A Universal Affirmative
No S are P E Universal Negative
Some S are P I Particular Affirmative
Some S are not P O Particular Negative

Quantity and Quality are properties of Propositions.


Examples:
A: All cows are Mammals (Subject: Cows , Predicate: Mammals)
E: No students are Foreigners
I: Some trees are Gymnosperms
O: Some dogs are not Hounds
Quantity, Quality, and Distribution

Distribution is a property of terms, not propositions.

A term is distributed if the proposition asserts something about every


member of the class the term refers to, so…

In ‘All S are P’, something is asserted about every member of the class
referred to by the term S, and so S is distributed.

For instance, All Salads are Priced to sell … something is asserted


about every salad, but not about everything that is priced to sell (on
sale).

‘All S are P’ assigns or distributes a property to every member of S


(being priced to sell)
Quantity, Quality, and Distribution

All S are P can be symbolized like this:

S
Quantity, Quality, and Distribution

No S are P looks like this:

‘No S are P’, on our grocery interpretation, says something


about everything Priced to sell, and every Salad.
Therefore, both S and P are distributed.
Quantity, Quality, and Distribution

Some S are P:

This says that at least one member of S is also a P (at least


one salad is priced to sell). This “I” proposition asserts
something about at least one member of S and at least
one member of P, so neither term is distributed.
Quantity, Quality and Distribution

Some S are not P:

This propositions asserts that at least one Salad is not


Priced to sell (it says nothing about all salads, but it
does say something about all the sale items: none of
them is that particular salad—or subclass of salads).
Quantity, Quality and Distribution

Summary …

All SD are P
No SD are PD
Some S are P
Some S are not PD

Proposition Letter Name Quantity Quality Distribution


All S are P A Universal Affirmative Subject only
No S are P E Universal Negative Sub & Pred
Some S are P I Particular Affirmative Neither
Some S are not P O Particular Negative Predicate only
Traditional Square of Opposition

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