Single Idea 18909

[catalogued under 4. Formal Logic / A. Syllogistic Logic / 1. Aristotelian Logic]

Full Idea

For Aristotle there are four formatives for sentences: 'belongs to some', 'belongs to every', 'belongs to no', and 'does not belong to every'. These are 'copulae'. Aristotle would have written 'wise belongs to some man'.

Gist of Idea

Aristotelian sentences are made up by one of four 'formative' connectors

Source

report of Aristotle (Prior Analytics [c.328 BCE]) by George Engelbretsen - Trees, Terms and Truth 3

Book Reference

'The Old New Logic', ed/tr. Oderberg,David S. [MIT 2005], p.34


A Reaction

A rather set-theoretic reading. This invites a Quinean scepticism about whether wisdom is some entity which can 'belong' to a person. It makes trope theory sound attractive, offering a unique wisdom that is integrated into that particular person.

Related Ideas

Idea 18905 Propositions can be analysed as pairs of terms glued together by predication [Engelbretsen]

Idea 13912 Aristotle replace Plato's noun-verb form with unions of pairs of terms by one of four 'copulae' [Aristotle, by Engelbretsen/Sayward]