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Full Idea
Statements of the form 'a is F' aren't invariably positive ('a is dead'), and nor are statements of the form 'a isn't F' ('a isn't blind') always negative.
Gist of Idea
'A is F' may not be positive ('is dead'), and 'A is not-F' may not be negative ('is not blind')
Source
Fraser MacBride (Truthmakers [2013], 2.1.4)
Book Ref
'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.13
A Reaction
The point is that the negation may be implicit in the predicate. There are many ways to affirm or deny something, other than by use of the standard syntax.
| 20788 | The contradictory of a contradictory is an affirmation [Stoic school, by Diog. Laertius] |
| 22017 | Normativity needs the possibility of negation, in affirmation and denial [Fichte, by Pinkard] |
| 21777 | Negation of negation doubles back into a self-relationship [Hegel, by Houlgate] |
| 16489 | Is it possible to state every possible truth about the whole course of nature without using 'not'? [Russell] |
| 18722 | Negations are not just reversals of truth-value, since that can happen without negation [Wittgenstein on Russell] |
| 18723 | We may correctly use 'not' without making the rule explicit [Wittgenstein] |
| 23493 | 'Not' isn't an object, because not-not-p would then differ from p [Wittgenstein] |
| 23066 | Negation doesn't arise from reasoning, but from deep instincts [Cioran] |
| 18903 | Sommers promotes the old idea that negation basically refers to terms [Sommers, by Engelbretsen] |
| 18801 | Classical negation is circular, if it relies on knowing negation-conditions from truth-conditions [Dummett] |
| 19052 | Natural language 'not' doesn't apply to sentences [Dummett] |
| 18476 | 'A is F' may not be positive ('is dead'), and 'A is not-F' may not be negative ('is not blind') [MacBride] |
| 18908 | Standard logic only negates sentences, even via negated general terms or predicates [Engelbretsen] |