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

20 THE NAME, THE TERM, THE CONCEPT,
tively, this means that each man is capable of being and
doing everything which he sees that he ought to be and do.
Understood collectively, it means that though you or I may
not always be able to do everything which we see that we
ought to do, yet the human race can, in the course of time,
realise every genuine ideal which any man is capable of
conceiving.
Some logicians e.g., Hamilton, followed by Dr
Fowler treat collective names as always singular ;
committee,"
"
the library,"
the true collective terms, while
"
"
regiment are ordinary common terms.
"
"
the
"
the regiment are treated as
"
"
committee," library,"
4. Another division of names is into positive and
negative.
Positive names imply the presence, negative names the
absence, of a given
attribute. Sometimes two different
words are used to express the two implications ; some
times the negative name is formed from the positive by
a prefix.
Positive names. Negative names.
Light.
Darkness.
Gratitude. Ingratitude.
Agreeable. Disagreeable.
Manly. Unmanly.
The negative name, as Mill points out, does not
imply mere negation, but the presence of some other
quality; in each of the above instances the negative
name implies the presence of an actual quality which is
the opposite of the one excluded. Hence, as Jevons
says, it is often "a matter of accident whether a positive
or negative name is used to express any particular
notion."
This leads us to a distinction which is of the highest