The Metaphysical Foundation of Buddhism and Modern Science

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