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Single Idea 14641

[filed under theme 10. Modality / A. Necessity / 4. De re / De dicto modality ]

Full Idea

It sometimes results that the deduction becomes necessary when only one of the premises is necessary (not whatever premise it might be, however, but only the premise in relation to the major extreme [premise]).

Gist of Idea

A deduction is necessary if the major (but not the minor) premise is also necessary

Source

Aristotle (Prior Analytics [c.328 BCE], 30a15)

Book Ref

Aristotle: 'Prior Analytics', ed/tr. Smith,Robin [Hackett 1989], p.13

A Reaction

The qualification is brackets is said by Plantinga (1969) to be a recognition of the de re/ de dicto distinction (later taken up by Aquinas). Plantinga gives two examples to illustrate his reading.

The 14 ideas with the same theme [modes of reality, or modes of statement about it]:

14641 A deduction is necessary if the major (but not the minor) premise is also necessary [Aristotle]
8481 The de dicto-de re modality distinction dates back to Abelard [Abelard, by Orenstein]
14645 To be necessarily greater than 7 is not a trait of 7, but depends on how 7 is referred to [Quine]
14975 A de dicto necessity is true in all worlds, but not necessarily of the same thing in each world [Cresswell]
14642 Expressing modality about a statement is 'de dicto'; expressing it of property-possession is 'de re' [Plantinga]
14643 'De dicto' true and 'de re' false is possible, and so is 'de dicto' false and 'de re' true [Plantinga]
14649 Can we find an appropriate 'de dicto' paraphrase for any 'de re' proposition? [Plantinga]
14652 'De re' modality is as clear as 'de dicto' modality, because they are logically equivalent [Plantinga]
16079 De re modal predicates are ambiguous [Lewis, by Rudder Baker]
14223 De dicto necessity has linguistic entities as their source, so it is a type of de re necessity [Shalkowski]
12003 De re modal formulae, unlike de dicto, are sensitive to transworld identities [Forbes,G]
15420 De re modality seems to apply to objects a concept intended for sentences [Burgess]
15175 Evaluation of de dicto modalities does not depend on the identity of its objects [Sidelle]
5732 'De re' modality is about things themselves, 'de dicto' modality is about propositions [Melia]