The Metaphysical Foundation of Buddhism and Modern Science
The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science: Nagarjuna and Alfred North Whitehead
The Metaphysical Foundations of Buddhism and Modern Science: Nagarjuna and Alfred North Whitehead
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<strong>of</strong> stable technical language. Consider the terms Judgement <strong>and</strong><br />
Proposition. I am not writing a preface to Logic, so I will confine myself<br />
to the assertion that there is considerable variation in the usages <strong>of</strong><br />
these terms among logicians.<br />
Also we may well ask whether there are not subtle variations <strong>of</strong> meaning<br />
stretching far beyond the competence <strong>of</strong> the two-term vocabulary, -<br />
Judgement, Proposition. For example, Mr. Joseph [Cf. Mind, Vols. 36, 37,<br />
New Series] has been examining Mr. W.E. Johnson's use <strong>of</strong> the term<br />
Proposition in his well-known Logical Treatise. Mr. Joseph finds twenty<br />
distinct meanings. It is to be remembered that we are here referring to<br />
two <strong>of</strong> the most acute <strong>of</strong> modern logicians. Whether Mr. Joseph has<br />
rightly interpreted Mr. Johnson's phrases is not to the point. If Mr.<br />
Joseph has found twenty distinct, though allied, meanings closely<br />
connected with the term Proposition, there are twenty such meanings,<br />
even though for the moment their divergencies may seem unimportant to<br />
Mr. Johnson or Mr. Joseph. Importance depends on purpose <strong>and</strong> on point<br />
<strong>of</strong> view. So at any moment twenty new terms may be required by some<br />
advance in the subtlety <strong>of</strong> logical theory. Again, if Mr. Johnson has<br />
employed twenty distinct meanings, it is because they were relevant to<br />
his argument, even though his argument may require further completion<br />
by reason <strong>of</strong> their unnoted distinction.<br />
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