This however, is nothing more than a taut Categorical Propositions

There are four kinds of categorical proposition. Examples corresponding to each kind are as follows: All men are pigs. No women are servants. Some guys are jerks. Some people are not believers. A categorical proposition has four components. Two of these components determine the content of the proposition and two determine the kind. Subject Term: The class, category or concept which the proposition is about. In the above examples "men", "women", "guys" and "people" are each a subject term. The subject term helps determine the content of a proposition. Predicate Term: The class, category or concept which is related by the proposition to the subject term. In the above examples "pigs", "servants", "jerks" and "believers" are each a predicate term. The predicate term helps to determine the content of a proposition. Quality (copula): The relation of inclusion or exclusion is determined by the copula or the copula plus a negative. When the relation is inclusion, the proposition is called affirmative, and when the relation is exclusion the proposition is called negative. The copula is always some form of the verb "to be". In the examples above, the first and third are affirmative; the copula does not work with any negating word. The second and fourth examples are negative; in the second the copula works with the word "No" to indicate exclusion; in the fourth the copula works with the word "not". The quality helps to determine the kind of categorical the proposition is. Quantity: The proportion of the subject term about which the proposition makes a claim. Only two proportions matter in categorical logic: all and less than all. If the whole subject class is referred to, the statement is called universal; if less than the whole is referred to, it is called particular. In the examples above, the first and second are universal (typically indicated by words like "all", "every", "no" and "none", but not always). The third and fourth examples above are particular (typically indicated by the word "some", but not always). The four kinds of categorical proposition have been given names for

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convenience:

A: Universal Affirmative (E.g. All men are pigs.) E: Universal Negative (E.g. No women are servants.) I: Particular Affirmative (E.g. Some guys are jerks.) O: Particular Negative (E.g. Some people are not believers.)

In ordinary language propositions are not always in standard form. The following considerations will be useful for translating ordinary propositions into standard form. 1. The grammatical predicate of a sentence does not always literally include a class or concept. For example, "Rabbits run fast." does not actually have a predicate term. But these can be easily translated so that their predicate term is explicit. For example: "Rabbits are fast runners." reveals that the predicate term for the above sentence would be the class of fast runners. 2. While the copula is always some form of the verb "to be" (e.g.. "is", "are", "was", "were", "will be"), tense is not important to the logic of what is being claimed. 3. Usually the subject term occurs first in a proposition. On occasion the subject and predicate may be switched as for example: "Tender is the night." The subject term is what the proposition is about. The forgoing statement is not about tenderness; it is about the night. "The night is tender." is closer to standard form. 4. When the subject term is explicitly singular, as in the case of proper names and definite descriptions, one should treat it as a class of one, which means that the whole class is being referred to; so singular propositions are treated as universals. For example, "Bryan Wiebe is not a mother." should be considered equivalent to "None of the class of Bryan Wiebe is a mother." (an E form proposition) in standard form. 5. Often nonstandard quantifiers or no quantifiers are used. a. When no quantifier is used one must judge from the context what is being claimed. For example, "Lions are carnivores." would be a universal proposition about all lions while "Lions are circus animals." would be a particular proposition making a claim about some lions. b. Any proposition of the form "All S are not P" (S refers to the subject term and P to the predicate term) is ambiguous. It may be translated into either an E form or an O form proposition. For example, "All fish are not warm blooded." would mean "No fish are warm blooded." But, "All fish are not salmon." would mean "Some fish are not salmon." Some judgement is required.

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In logic the word "some" always means "at least one". Words such as "few", "several", "many" and "most" must all be translated as some, because the logic here cares only about whether the claim. 1.Translation Rules of Thumb: The subject and predicate terms must be the names of classes. If the predicate term is a descriptive phrase, make it a substantive (i.e., noun phrase). Translation must not (significantly) alter the original meaning of the sentence. Categorical propositions must have a form of the verb to be as the copula in the present tense. The quality and quantity indicators are set up from the meaning of the sentences. Quantity indicators: All, No, Some. Quality indicators: No, are, are not. The word order is rearranged according to the sense of the sentence. This rule requires special carein some instances, it may well be the most difficult rule to follow. On occasion, we need to divide one sentence into two or more propositions Before we take up some special cases, lets look at some typical examples: The following translations are relatively straightforward. Ships are beautiful translates to All ships are beautiful things. The whale is a mammal translates to All whales are mammals. Whoever is a child is silly translates to All children are silly creatures.

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Snakes coil translates to All snakes are coiling things. All swans are not white translates to Some swans are not white. Nothing ventured, nothing gained translates to No non-ventured things are gained things. Or the obverse All non-ventured things are non-gained things. 2. Singular propositions are to be treated as (but not usually translated into) a universal proposition (i.e., an A or an E). E.g., Socrates is a man is an A proposition, but Socrates is not a god is an E proposition. 3. Exclusive propositions have the cue words only or none but. The order of the subject and predicate terms must be reversed. E.g., None but A is B translates to All B is A. Only A is B translates to All B is A. None but red trucks are fire engines translates to All fire engines are red things. 4. Exceptive propositions are compound propositions. E.g., All except A is B translates to All non-A is B and No A is B. E.g., All except human beings are nonsymbolic animals translates to All nonhuman beings are nonsymbolic animals and No human beings are nonsymbolic animals (or, of course the obverse, All human beings are symbolic animals.) 5. A Compound statement asserts two propositions. E.g., There is a time to sow and a time to reap translates to Some occasions are times to sow and Some occasions are times to reap.

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6. Abstract: An inductive strategy for mechanizing translation is illustrated. We have at this time a kind of took kit to work on syllogisms. Our tools include: obversion, conversion, and contraposition Venn diagrams logical analogies rules and fallacies various techniques for reducing the number of terms translation strategies The following inductive technique can be used for mechanizing translation by isolating the steps for testing the validity of a syllogism. The steps can be itemized as follows: Identify the conclusion and premises. Put the syllogism into standard order as best you can. Supply the suppressed statements, if any. Reduce the number of terms to three per syllogism. Translate the statements to standard form. Test for validity Let us conclude by evaluating a complex example from A.S. NeillsSummerhill (New York: Hart, 1960) 94. If Summerhill teachers had urged, Come on lads, get on the field! sports in Summerhill would have become a perverted thing because only under freedom to play or not to play can one develop true sportsmanship. First, lets do steps 1 and 2

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Major Premise: All instances where true sportsmanship develops are times where one has the freedom to play or not play. (Note the reversal of terms due to the nature of the original exclusive proposition.) Minor Premise: . . Conclusion: No occasions at Summerhill are instances where sports becomes a perverted thing. Once we notice that instances where true sportsmanship develops in context is the complementary class of instances where sports becomes a perverted thing, then we can match our classes by obverting the conclusion to obtain All playing times at Summerhill are instances where true sportsmanship develops. Next, we can supply the missing minor premise with the classes playing times at Summmerhill and times where one has the freedom to play or not play. The resultant argument now becomes Major Premise: All instances where true sportsmanship is developed are times where one has the freedom to play or not play. Minor Premise: . . Conclusion All playing times at Summerhill are instances where true sportsmanship is developed. The minor premise contains the minor term playing times at Summerhill and the middle term times where one has the freedom to play or not play. For validity, the middle term must be distributed (otherwise the fallacy of the undistributed middle term would occur), and the statement must be affirmative (otherwise the fallacy of drawing an affirmative conclusion from a negative premise would occur). Hence the minor premise would have to beAll times where one has the freedom to play or not play are playing times at Summerhill, but this statement is false. 38

The true statement All playing times at Summerhill are times where one has the freedom to play or not play makes the syllogism invalid by the fallacy of the undistributed middle term. Hence, Neills argument is not sound. Had Neill omitted the word only from his argument, the argument could have been logically acceptable.

Standard Categorical Format 1. Standard Categorical Format translating ordinary language statements into categorical form. While few statements in ordinary written and oral expression are categorical propositions in standard form, many of them can be translated into standard form propositions. The necessity for this translation is twofold: the first is that the operations and inference pertinent to standard form categorical propositions become applicable to these statements, and the second is that such statements, once translated are completely clear and unambiguous as to their meaning. The simple rule for this translation is to understand the meaning of the given statement and then reformulate it in a new statement that has a quantifier, subject term, copula, and predicate term. a. terms without nouns The subject and predicate terms of acategorical proposition must contain either a noun or noun substitute that serves to denote the class indicated by the term. Nouns and nounsubstitute denote classes, while adjectives connote attributes. If a termconsists of only an adjective, a noun or noun substitute should beintroduced to make the term genuinely denotative. Some rose are red. All tigers are carnivorous. Some roses are red flowers. All tigers are carnivorous animals.

b. nonstandard verbs statements in ordinary usage often incorporate other forms of the verb to be. Such statements may be translated according to the following examples: Some persons who go to college will Some persons who go to college are

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become educated. persons who will be educated. Some dogs would rather bark than bite. Some dogs are animals that would rather bark than bite. a. singular proposition A singular proposition makes an assertion about a specific person, place, thing, or time. Singular propositions are typically translated into universals by means of a parameter, a phrase that when introduced into a statement affects the form but not the meaning. Some parameters that may be used to translate singular propositions are: persons identical to, place identical to, things identical to, times identical to. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is the All persons identical to Gloria Macapagalpresident of this country. Arroyo are the president of this country. There is a radio in the back bedroom. All places identical to the back bedroom are places where there is a radio. b. adverbs and pronouns when a statement contains a spatial adverb such as where, wherever, anywhere, everywhere, or nowhere, or a temporal adverb such as when, whenever, anytime, always, or never, it may be translated in terms of places or times, respectively. a statement containing pronouns such as who, whoever, anyone, what, whatever, or anything may be translated in terms of persons or things, respectively. He is always clean shaven. Whoever works hard will succeed. All times are times he is clean shaven. All persons who work hard are persons who will succeed.

c. unexpressed quantifiers many statements in ordinary usage have quantifiers that are implied but not expressed. In introducing the quantifiers one must be guided by the most probable meaning of the statement. Emeralds are green gems. Children live next door. All emeralds are green gems. Some children live next door.

d. nonstandard quantifiers sometimes the quantity of the statement is indicated by a word or words other than the three quantifiers that are allowed. A few soldiers are heroes. Anyone who voted is a citizen. Some soldiers are heroes. All voters are citizens.

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e. conditional statements when the antecedent and consequent of a conditional statement talk about the same thing, the statement can usually be translated into categorical form. If it is a mouse, then it is a mammal. If an animal has four legs, then it is not a bird. All mice are mammals. No four-legged animals are birds.

In translating conditional statements it is sometimes useful to employ arule called transposition. According to this rule, the antecedent andconsequent of a conditional statement may switch places if both arenegated. For example, the statement If something is not valuable, then it is not scarce is logically equivalent to If something is scarce, then it is valuable. This is then translated as All scarce things are valuable things. The word unless means ifnot. For example, the statement A car will not run unless there is gas in the tank means A car will not run if there is not gas in the tank which means If there is not gas in the tank, then a car will not run. by transposition, this means, If a car runs, then there is gas in the tank which is translated as All cars that run are cars with gas in the tank. f. exclusive propositions propositions that involve the words only, none but, none except, and no except are exclusive propositions. Efforts to translate them into categorical propositions frequently lead to confusion of the subject term with the predicate term. Such confusion can be avoided if the statement is phrased as a conditional statement first, then as a categorical statement. For example, the statement Only executives can use the silver elevator is equivalent to If a person can use the silver elevator, he is an executive. The correct categorical proposition is All persons who can use the silver elevator are executives. Only elected officials will attend the convention. Only elected officials will attend the convention.

When only and none but occur in the middle of a statement, the statement must first be restructured so that the term preceded by only or none but occurs first. Then the statement can be translated as those above. For example, the statement Executives can use only the silver elevator is equivalent to Only the 41

silver elevator can be used by executives. This, in turn, is equivalent to If an elevator can be used by executives, which is translated: All elevators that can be used by executives are elevators identical to the silver elevator. He owns only the shirt on his back. All things owned by him are things identical to the shirt on his back.

Statements beginning with the words the only are translated differentlyfrom those beginning with only. For example, the statement The only cars that are available are Chevrolets means that If a car is available, then it is a Chevrolet. This, in turn, is translated as All cars that are available are Chevrolets. In other words, the only, when it occurs at the beginning of a statement, can simply be replaced with all, and the order of the term is not reversed in the translation. When the only occurs in the middle of a statement, the statement must be restructured so that it occurs at the beginning. For example, Romances are the only books he sells is equivalent to The only books he sells are romances. This is then translated as All books that he sells are romances. Accountants are the only ones who will be hired. All those who will be hired are accountants.

g. exceptive propositions propositions of the form All excepts S are P and All but S are P are exceptive propositions. They must be translated not as single categorical propositions but as pairs of conjoined categorical propositions. Statements that include the phrase none except, on the other hand, are exclusive and not exceptive propositions. All except students are invited. No students are invited persons + All non-students are invited persons.

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Philosophy 103: Introduction to Logic Translation of Propositions Abstract: Some well-known techniques for translating ordinary language sentences into standard form categorical propositions are explained. I. For reasoning in everyday life, as you know, people do not talk in standard categorical form. Categorical form is much too stilted for writing effective discourse. A. There is a need to develop skills of logical translation to standard form categorical propositions in order to minimize errors in evaluating syllogistic arguments. Very often translation into standard form reveals fallacies of equivocation and fallacies of amphiboly in the original text. B. Translation Rules of Thumb: 1. The subject and predicate terms must be the names of classes. a. If the predicate term is a descriptive phrase, make it a substantive (i.e., noun phrase). b. Translation must not (significantly) alter the original meaning of the sentence. 2. Categorical propositions must have a form of the verb "to be" as the copula in the present tense. 3. The quality and quantity indicators are set up from the meaning of the sentences. a. Quantity indicators: "All," "No," "Some." b. Quality indicators: "No," "are," "are not." 2. The word order is rearranged according to the sense of the sentence. a. This rule requires special carein some instances, it may well be the most difficult rule to follow b. On occasion, we need to divide one sentence into two or more propositions B. Before we take up some special cases, let's look at some typical examples:

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1. The following translations are relatively straightforward. a. "Ships are beautiful" translates to "All ships are beautiful things." b. "The whale is a mammal" translates to "All whales are mammals." c. "Whoever is a child is silly" translates to "All children are silly creatures." d. "Snakes coil" translates to "All snakes are coiling things." e. "All swans are not white" translates to "Some swans are not white." f. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" translates to "No non-ventured things are gained things." Or the obverse... "All non-ventured things are non-gained things." 2. More complex examples can be "mechanized" in a translation process consisting of applying the above "Rules of Thumb" in a effective fashion. (1) "When the cat's away, the mice will play." Rule 1 times when the cat is away times when the mice will play Rule 2 are Rule 3 All Rule 4 ~not applicable~ (2) "It is not uncommon for a musician to have perfect pitch" Rule 1 musicians people with perfect pitch. Rule 2 are Rule 3 Some Rule 4 ~not applicable~ (3) "None but the brave deserve the fair." Rule 1 brave people people who deserve the fair. Rule 2 are Rule 3 All (but this is not the meaning!) Rule 4 All people who deserve the fair are brave people. 44

Clarification: This example is an exclusive proposition. Consider this further example: "None but black things are crows" is another way of saying "All crows are black things." Hence, when translating exclusive propositions to standard form, the subject and predicate classes are usually reversed. I. The following types of statements deserve special mention. A. Singular propositions are to be treated as (but not usually translated into) a universal proposition (i.e., an A or an E). E.g., "Socrates is a man" is an A proposition, but "Socrates is not a god" is an E proposition. B. Exclusive propositions have the cue words "only" or "none but." The order of the subject and predicate terms must be reversed. E.g., "None but A is B" translates to "All B is A." "Only A is B" translates to "All B is A." "None but red trucks are fire engines" translates to "All fire engines are red things." C. Exceptive propositions are compound propositions. 1. E.g., "All except A is B" translates to "All nonA is B and"No A is B. 2. E.g., "All except human beings are nonsymbolic animals" translates to ..." "All nonhuman beings are nonsymbolic animals" and "No human beings are nonsymbolic animals" (or, of course the obverse, "All human beings are symbolic animals.") D. A Compound statement asserts two propositions. E.g., "There is a time to sow and a time to reap" translates to "Some occasions are timse to sow" and 45

"Some occasions are times to reap."

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