2. MEANING OF LOGICAL TERM.

A notion has been referred to as any product of the knowing mind. When we express these notions in words such expressions may be called logical terms.

Definition. A logical term is a word or a group of words denoting a definite notion. Illustrations: Honesty, Chicago, tree, walking, the man who was ill, beautiful roses. This is a list of logical terms, because each word or group of words denotes a notion of some kind. It is now evident that any subject or predicate with its modifiers constitutes a logical term. In the proposition, “The beautiful red house on the hill, owned by Mr.Jones, has burned,” the term used as the subject consists of eleven words. The reader must not confuse logical terms with grammatical parts of speech. “Of” is a preposition but not a logical term, as no definite notion is indicated.

3. CATEGOREMATIC AND SYNCATEGOREMATIC WORDS.

There are some words which, when used alone, denote definite notions, such as man, tree, dog, justice. On the other hand there are other words which, when used alone, do not stand for a definite notion, such as up, beautifully, a, and.

Words like those in the first list are called categorematic words, while those in the second list illustrate syncategorematic words.

DEFINITION.

A categorematic word is one which forms a logical term unaided by other words. A syncategorematic word is one which must be used with other words to form a logical term.

Any word or group of words which can be used as either subject or predicate of a proposition is a logical term. If the one word in question can be used as either subject or predicate of a proposition then it must be a categorematic word. If it is impossible to use the one word as either subject or predicate of a proposition then this is a sure indication that such a word is syncategorematic. For example, there is no sense in the expressions, “_And_ is honest,” “_Of_ is not true”; hence _and_ and _of_ are syncategorematic.

We may conclude from this that nouns, descriptive adjectives and verbs may be categorematic words, while adverbs, prepositions and conjunctions are syncategorematic words.

4. SINGULAR TERMS.

A singular term is a term which denotes one object or one attribute.

Proper nouns, when they stand for individuals, are singular terms, such as John Adams, Mississippi River, Socrates. Some proper names stand for a class of objects, as the Caesars, the Mephistopheles, the Napoleons. But when thus used they lose their character as proper names. Such names, therefore, are general terms, not singular.

Common nouns may be made singular by some modifying word, as the first man, the pole star, the highest good, my pet dog, etc.

Certain attributes which imply a oneness or a distinct individuality are singular, such as absolute justice, birds-egg blue, perfect happiness, etc.

Some claim that terms like water, air, salt, etc., are singular, as they stand for one thing. This, however, cannot be if such terms admit the possibility of classification as: hard water, soft water, mineral water.

5. GENERAL TERMS.

A general term is one which denotes an indefinite number of objects or attributes.

Class-names are general terms, such as men, chair, tree, army, nation. Words like redness, sweetness, justice, are probably general in that they denote a combination of qualities or may be subdivided into kinds.

The way the term is employed in the proposition should determine its singular or general nature.

6. COLLECTIVE AND DISTRIBUTIVE TERMS.

A collective term is a general term which indicates an indefinite number of objects as one whole. Such words as class, crowd, army, forest, nation, are collective.

A distributive term is a general term which indicates an indefinite number of objects as a whole, and also may be used to refer to each one of the group separately. Such as man, pupil, tree, book.

It is easy to distinguish collective from distributive terms when we attempt to use them in the designation of individuals. Pointing to a body of troops, one may remark, “There is the regiment.” But when pointing to one man in the regiment, he could hardly say, “There is the regiment.” “Regiment” is therefore collective because it may be used with reference to the whole body of troops but cannot be used in connection with any individual of that body. On the other hand in the sentence, “Man is mortal,” “man” refers to the whole family of men. It also indicates any one of them. As, “This man, John Doe, is mortal.” Thus “man” is distributive. The distributive term, therefore, can be used in a two-fold sense; namely, to denote the whole or to denote each.

It must be noted that, viewed from a different standpoint, some collective terms become distributive in nature. As for example in the proposition, “The army of the world is composed of able bodied men,” army is used with reference to all armies. While it may be used to designate some particular army, as The American army.

Collective terms have been classified as general terms. It must be borne in mind, however, that such may be made singular by some modifying word. For example, people is a general term, but American people is a singular term in that it refers to one people, being thus limited by the word American.

7. CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT TERMS.

A concrete term is a term which denotes a thing; e.g., this man, that tree, John Doe, denote in each case a thing. Man and tree, denote many things. All are concrete.

An abstract term is a term which denotes an attribute of a thing; e.g., whiteness, patience, squareness, are abstract terms.

Such words as red, honest, just, are concrete; while redness, honesty, justice, are abstract.

On first thought it might be inferred that “red” is the name of an attribute just as much as “redness.” This is a mistaken thought, however, as when we use the word red we mean red something—an object which is red in color, not the color itself. For example, in saying the house is red, we refer to the thing that is red, not to the color redness.

Descriptive adjectives, because they describe things, are concrete. They do not alone name qualities of things, hence they are not abstract.

8. CONNOTATIVE AND NON-CONNOTATIVE TERMS.

A connotative term is one which denotes a subject and at the same time implies an attribute. (Asubject is anything which possesses attributes.)

All concrete general terms are connotative because they denote subjects and at the same time stand for certain attributes; e.g., “man” denotes many subjects; in fact, it stands for all the men in the world; it also implies rationality, the power of speech, power of locomotion, etc. “Triangle” stands for all plane figures of three sides; it likewise stands for the qualities, three-sided, three-cornered, etc. Both “man” and “triangle” are connotative.

A non-connotative term is one which denotes a subject only, or implies an attribute only. Such words as Boston, Columbus, The Elizabeth White, denote a subject only. “Blueness,” “justice,” “width,” imply an attribute only. All these terms are non-connotative. The words blue, just, wide, are connotative. “Blue,” for example, denotes all blue things, as the blue sky, the blue sea; at the same time “blue” implies that something possesses the quality, blueness.

Generally speaking, proper and abstract nouns are non-connotative; though such proper nouns as Mount Washington, Mississippi River, are, no doubt, connotative, as they denote an object and imply at least one attribute. In the case of Mount Washington an object is surely denoted, and the attribute mountainous is implied. Any proper noun which conveys definite information is connotative. It may be claimed that all proper nouns give information. For example, to many Boston indicates not only an object, but the qualities common to a city. In reply it may be said that “Boston” might indicate a boat, or a dog, or almost any individual object.

9. POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE TERMS.

A positive term is one which signifies the possession of certain attributes; e.g., metal, man, teacher, happy, honest.

A negative term is one which signifies the absence of certain attributes; e.g., inorganic, unhappy, non-metallic.

Terms which have the prefix not, non, un, in, dis, etc., or the affix less, are usually considered negative. The fact that there are some exceptions to this must not be overlooked. For example, unloosed, invaluable, are positive terms.

In theory every positive term has its corresponding negative; as pure, impure; organic, inorganic; metal, non-metal; good, not-good.

In some instances the language does not supply the word with the negative prefix because no need of it has been felt. The only way to express the negative of such words as good, table, etc., is to prefix “not” or “non.”

10. CONTRADICTORY AND OPPOSITE TERMS.
(See page 38).

Positive terms with their negatives have contradictory meanings and therefore are referred to as contradictory terms. For example, honest and not-honest, metallic and non-metallic, perfect and imperfect, are contradictory terms. Such terms are mutually destructive. When we assert the truth of one we also imply the falsity of the other. If, for example, we assert that Abraham Lincoln was honest, we carry with this assertion the implication that Lincoln was not not-honest, or that any statement to the effect that he was not honest is false.

Contradictory terms, when used in a sentence, illustrate the law of excluded middle, as in the statements: “John’s recitation is either perfect or imperfect.” “This teacher is either just or not-just.” There is no middle ground in such propositions.

When contradictory terms are used in classification the whole is divided into but two classes; e.g.:

All the men in the world are either honest or not-honest. All the substances in existence are either organic or inorganic, etc.

It will also be seen from this list that the contradictory of the positive form is not always indicated by using the prefix. Honest and dishonest, or agreeable and disagreeable, are not contradictory terms. In the case of agreeable and disagreeable, there seems to be the middle ground of absolute indifference. For example: the music of the orchestra is agreeable while the humming of the enthusiast back of me is decidedly disagreeable; but as to the noise upon the street, it is neither agreeable nor disagreeable as long practice has made me indifferent to it.

When there is any doubt as to the terms being contradictory, the safest plan is to prefix “not” or “non” to the positive form.

Terms which oppose each other but do not contradict are said to be opposite or contrary terms. The following list illustrate opposite terms:

All these terms admit of a medium. In the case of hot or cold, for example, a substance need not necessarily be either. It may be warm or cool.

Terms seem to be contradictory when it is a matter of quality, but opposite when it is a question of quantity or degree.

11. PRIVATIVE AND NEGO-POSITIVE TERMS.

A privative term is one which is positive in form but negative in meaning. Such words as blind, deaf, dumb, dead, maimed, orphaned, are privative terms, in that there is no negative prefix or suffix and yet they denote the absence of certain qualities. “Blind,” for example, is positive in form, but denotes absence of sight.

A nego-positive term is one which is negative in form but positive in meaning. Such terms as invaluable, unloosed, immoral, indwell, are nego-positive because, though they have negative prefixes, yet they possess a certain positive meaning. “Invaluable,” for instance, does not mean not-valuable, but very valuable.

12. ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE TERMS.

An absolute term is one whose meaning becomes intelligible without reference to other terms. Automobile, water, tree, house, book, are absolute terms. Any of them may be made clear to a child or a foreigner without special reference to other terms. For example, the child will recognize from certain common marks the automobile every time he sees it. The marks of tree, house, flower, are apparent to every one.

A relative term is one which derives its meaning from its relation to some other term. Parent, teacher, shepherd, monarch, eldest, cause, commander, are relative terms. For example, in explaining the meaning of “parent” to a foreigner, reference must be made to “child.” The pairs of terms thus associated are spoken of as correlatives. Parent and child, teacher and pupil, shepherd and flock, monarch and subject, eldest and youngest, cause and effect, commander and army, are correlative terms. Either one of each pair is the correlate to the other, and every relative term needs its correlate to make its meaning clear. To say that a relative term denotes an object which cannot be thought of without reference to some other object, is confusing, as it is quite impossible to think of any object without calling to mind some other object or notion. Fire calls to mind water; tree suggests shade, etc.

13. OUTLINE.

LOGICAL TERMS.

14. SUMMARY.

A logical term is a word or group of words denoting a definite notion.

A singular term is a term which denotes one object or one attribute.

A general term is a term which denotes an indefinite number of objects or attributes.

General terms are collective or distributive.

A collective term is a general term which indicates an indefinite number of objects considered as one whole.

A distributive term is a general term which indicates an indefinite number of objects as a whole and also may be used to refer to each one of the group separately.

A concrete term is a term which denotes a thing.

An abstract term is a term which denotes the attribute of a thing.

A connotative term is one which denotes a subject and at the same time implies an attribute.

A non-connotative term is one which denotes a subject only or implies an attribute only.

A positive term is one which signifies the possession of certain attributes.

A negative term is one which signifies the absence of certain attributes.

In theory every positive term has its negative. As related to each other positive and negative terms are said to be contradictory. If one denotes a true notion then the other denotes a false notion.

Some terms oppose each other but do not flatly contradict. As related to each other such terms are said to be opposite.

A privative term is one which is positive in form but negative in meaning.

A nego-positive term is one which is negative in form but positive in meaning.

An absolute term is one whose meaning becomes intelligible without reference to other terms.

A relative term is one which derives its meaning from its relation to some other term.

15. ILLUSTRATIVE EXERCISES.

(1a) The words in italics are categorematic.

NOTE—If there is any doubt as to such words as never, on, etc., being syncategorematic, attempt to use them as subject or predicate of a proposition; e.g., John is never.

(1b) Underscore the categorematic words in the following:

(2a) In the following, words enclosed in parentheses are logical terms:

(2b) Indicate the logical terms in the sentences under 1b.

(3a) The logical characteristics of the term teacher are

(3b) The logical characteristics of other terms are as follows:

(3c) Give the logical characteristics of the following terms: justice, Abraham Lincoln, tree, library, America, president, principle, sympathy, dumb, nation.

16. REVIEW QUESTIONS.

17. QUESTIONS FOR ORIGINAL THOUGHT AND INVESTIGATION.