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Full Idea
If you ask 'Are Coriscus and Callias at home or not at home?', whether they are both at home or not there, the number of propositions is more than one. For if the answer is true, it does not follow that the question is a single one.
Gist of Idea
'Are Coriscus and Callias at home?' sounds like a single question, but it isn't
Source
Aristotle (Sophistical Refutations [c.331 BCE], 176a08)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Sophistical Refutations, On the Cosmos etc (III)', ed/tr. Forster,E.S. /Furley,D.J. [Harvard Loeb 1955], p.95
A Reaction
[compressed] Aristotle is saying that some questions should not receive a 'yes' or 'no' answer, because they are equivocal. Arthur Prior cites this passage, on 'and'. Ordinary use of 'and' need not be the logical use of 'and'.
| 16967 | 'Are Coriscus and Callias at home?' sounds like a single question, but it isn't [Aristotle] |
| 17895 | Combining two distinct assertions does not necessarily lead to a single 'complex proposition' [Mill] |
| 18718 | Saying 'and' has meaning is just saying it works in a sentence [Wittgenstein] |
| 12597 | I might accept P and Q as likely, but reject P-and-Q as unlikely [Harman] |
| 12664 | A truth-table, not inferential role, defines 'and' [Fodor] |
| 12010 | Is the meaning of 'and' given by its truth table, or by its introduction and elimination rules? [Forbes,G] |
| 23628 | The connective 'and' can have an order-sensitive meaning, as 'and then' [Hossack] |