Handbook of the History of Logic: - Fordham University Faculty

294 Henrik Lagerlund
These five different levels of propositions are then further subdivided into all in
all thirteen different kinds of propositions. The division is the following:
(3.1.27) Demonstrative propositions;
(i) Per se necessary propositions (primae);
(ii) Propositions about sense perceptions (sensibiles);
(iii) Experimental propositions (experimentales);
(iv) Reputable propositions (famosae);
(v) Intuitive propositions.
(3.1.28) Topical propositions;
(i) Maximal propositions (maximae);
(ii) Granted propositions (concessae).
(3.1.29) Rhetorical and legal propositions;
(i) Propositions reporting received opinions (receptibiles);
(ii) Apparent maximal propositions (maximae in apparentia);
(iii) Believable propositions (putabiles).
(3.1.30) Sophistical propositions;
(i) Believable propositions;
(ii) Deceptive propositions (simulatoriae).
(3.1.31) Poetical propositions;
(i) Imaginative or transformative propositions (imaginative sive transformativae).
The thirteenth kind of proposition which does not fit into the classification above,
but which he nonetheless outlines is called estimative propositions. He explains
that these are false propositions which somehow have been fixed in our souls and
which we cannot doubt. Some of the examples he gives are: ‘That which has no
parts cannot be anything’, ‘Nothing is that which is not in the world and not
outside it’, or ‘The totality of the world terminates in a void or in a plenary’.
The first five under (3.1.27) are all true propositions and as such they are all
the subject of demonstrative syllogisms or demonstrative science. The first kinds
are per se necessary and naturally believed by the intellect. An example he gives
is: ‘Two are more than one’. These are truths of reason, that is, truths the
intellect realizes without any training and education. The second kinds are simple
truths based on perception, like ‘the sun is shining’. Next are the experimental
propositions. While the first was purely based on the intellect and the second only
on the senses, these propositions are based on both. An example would be ‘Fire
ignites’. Reputable (famosae) propositions are such propositions which nobody
doubt, but where the foundation for their truth is now known. His example is:
‘Egypt exists’, although no one has actually been there to look. The last kinds
of propositions usable in demonstration according to this classification at least