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Single Idea 9105

[filed under theme 19. Language / D. Propositions / 4. Mental Propositions ]

Full Idea

Conceptual terms and the propositions formed by them are those mental words which do not belong to any language; they remain only in the mind and cannot be uttered exteriorly, though signs subordinated to these can be exteriorly uttered.

Gist of Idea

Some concepts for propositions exist only in the mind, and in no language

Source

William of Ockham (Summa totius logicae [1323], I.c.i)

Book Ref

Ockham,William of: 'Ockham's Philosophical Writings', ed/tr. Boehner,P [Hackett 1990], p.47


A Reaction

[He cites Augustine] A glimmer of the idea of Mentalese, and is probably an integral part of any commitment to propositions. Quine would hate it, but I like it. Logicians seem to dislike anything that cannot be articulated, but brains are like that.


The 9 ideas from 'Summa totius logicae'

Ockham had an early axiomatic account of truth [William of Ockham, by Halbach]
Universals are single things, and only universal in what they signify [William of Ockham]
Some concepts for propositions exist only in the mind, and in no language [William of Ockham]
The word 'every' only signifies when added to a term such as 'man', referring to all men [William of Ockham]
Just as unity is not a property of a single thing, so numbers are not properties of many things [William of Ockham]
A proposition is true if its subject and predicate stand for the same thing [William of Ockham]
If essence and existence were two things, one could exist without the other, which is impossible [William of Ockham]
The words 'thing' and 'to be' assert the same idea, as a noun and as a verb [William of Ockham]
From an impossibility anything follows [William of Ockham]