DEFINITION AND DISCUSSION

Understanding the concept of a categorical proposition requires some discussion of the notion of
a proposition. A proposition is usually defined as a thought or content expressed by a sentence,
when it is used to say something true or false. Propositions are, roughly, thoughts about how things
are, and are appraisable as true or false depending on whether the thought corresponds to how the
world it.
Propositions are sometimes identified with statements or judgments, but it seems best to keep these
separate. Assuming that the expressions "statement" and "judgment" are interchangeable, we can
say that people make statements when they assert propositions. Making a statement is essentially
adopting a certain attitude toward a proposition. A statement consists of (1) a thought or meaning
called a proposition and (2) the speaker or writers endorsement of the proposition (the assertion).
So all judgments assert propositions but not all propositions are asserted (e.g. A proposition which
is doubted is not asserted).
A categorical proposition joins together exactly two categorical terms and asserts that some
relationship holds between the classes they designate.
For example, "All cows are mammals" and "Some philosophy teachers are young mothers" are
categorical propositions whose subject terms are "cows" and "philosophy teachers" and whose
predicate terms are "mammals" and "young mothers" respectively.
Each categorical proposition states that there is some logical relationship that holds between its
two terms. In this context, a categorical term is said to be distributed if that proposition provides
some information about every member of the class designated by that term. Thus, in our first
example above, "cows" is distributed because the proposition in which it occurs affirms that each
and every cow is also a mammal, but "mammals" is undistributed because the proposition does not
state anything about each and every member of that class. In the second example, neither of the
terms is distributed, since this proposition tells us only that the two classes overlap to some
(unstated) extent.
Categorical propositions
We have now considered the notion of a proposition in general. A categorical proposition is a
proposition of a special sort. It is a proposition with two [1] "terms," one of two [2] "copulas," and
one of two [3] "quantifiers." Explanation of each of these is as follows.
COMPONENTS AND CLASSES
Terms
Categorical propositions contain two "terms." Terms are the constituents of propositions, and not
whole propositions themselves. A term picks out a set or class of objects, either real or imagined.
Examples of terms include chickens, people, Martians, dogs, and carnivores.
The term of a categorical proposition picks out a group of things. This group of things is called a
set, or a class, or a category. The (groups of) objects that the term picks out do not have to really
exist in our world. So the term "Martians" is perfectly legitimate even though Martians dont
actually exist.
A categorical proposition is made up of two terms. The first term, which occurs in the subject
position, is called the minor term. The second term, which is occurs in the predicate position is
called the major term.
Copula
Categorical propositions admit only one verb, and this the verb "to be." The verb "to be" is called
a copula. For example, the sentence "The dog is black" employs the copula. In a categorical
propositions, the copula links the subject term with the predicate term. In other words, it links up
two terms, which each pick out categories of objects, with one another. The term, "whales," may
(e.g.) be linked with another term, "mammals," in the proposition, all whales are mammals.
In Aristotelian logic, the negation of the verb "to be" came to known as the "negative copula." So
when one says, the dog is not black, one employs the negative copula. Ultimately, it makes no
difference whether we say that there are two copulas, one positive and one negative, or only one
copula, which is negated or not negated. One should adhere to the convention, which says that
there are two copulas, one positive and one negative.
Categorical propositions are said to have a "quality" and a "quantity". The quality of the categorical
proposition is determined by the copula. If the copula is negative then the proposition is said to be
a negative proposition; if the copula is positive the proposition is said to be an affirmative
proposition.
Quantifiers
All Categorical propositions contain one (and only one) of two quantifiers. A quantifier, as the
name suggests, specifies the number of a given class. There are only two quantifiers. The first
quantifier is called the "universal quantifier," usually represented by "all" or "every." The universal
quantifier picks out every member of a particular class, such as "all men," or all whales. The
second quantifier is the existential quantifier, usually represented by some, or at least one. The
existential quantifier picks at least one member of the class, such as some men or some whales.
Every categorical proposition is said to have a quantity. The quantity of the categorical proposition
is either universal (all, every) or particular (some).
Quality
The quality of a categorical proposition indicates the nature of the relationship it affirms between
its subject and predicate terms: it is an affirmative proposition if it states that the class designated
by its subject term is included, either as a whole or only in part, within the class designated by its
predicate term, and it is a negative proposition if it wholly or partially excludes members of the
subject class from the predicate class. The predicate term is distributed in every negative
proposition but undistributed in all affirmative propositions.
Quantity
The quantity of a categorical proposition, on the other hand, is a measure of the degree to which
the relationship between its subject and predicate terms holds: it is a universal proposition if the
asserted inclusion or exclusion holds for every member of the class designated by its subject term,
and it is a particular proposition if it merely asserts that the relationship holds for one or more
members of the subject class. The subject term is distributed in all universal propositions but
undistributed in every particular proposition.

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