An introductory text-book of logic - Mellone, Sydney - Rare Books at ...

THE GENERAL AIM OF LOGIC. 9
vaguely call ideas. An idea by
true or false ;
itself cannot be either
it must enter into a judgment first. "An
example of this is, that unicorn means something,
but is not true or false until affirmation or denial of its
"
existence is added (Ar. De Int. i.)
This does not mean
that judgments are built up by putting together ideas
that were separate. Whether we can even entertain a
significant idea as such without judging,
or at least
framing possible judgments on the basis of that idea,
is very doubtful. In Logic we may assume that ideas
exist only as elements in the judgment.
We have a corresponding relation in the proposition.
A proposition affirms or denies something of something
else : e.g.,
" Some useful metals are becoming rarer."
The Subject is that about which the assertion is made
(i.e., "some useful metals"); the Predicate,
is asserted (i.e.,
"are becoming rarer").
that which
It is a stand
ing convention in elementary Logic to express the state
ment which is made, by the verb is or is not (are or
are not) ; and the predicate of a proposition is always
understood to be expressed in a form admitting of the
use of this verb, which is called the Copula (i.e.,
in our
example,
" Some useful metals arc things which are
becoming rarer"). The subject and predicate are the
terms (termini, limits) of the proposition ; and we shall -
understand by a "term," any word, phrase, or sentence
which is standing as the subject or predicate of a pro
position. A Term which is not in its place in a pro
position we shall call a "name."
Just as every sentence is not a proposition, so every
word is not a term. A term will be either a noun, an ad
jective, or a participle, or some word, phrase, or sentence
equivalent to one of these. Words which arc not terms are
distinguished as
"
syncategorematic," while terms are called