Re: The Structure of Aristotelian Logic

In article
<ea1c710b-5381-493a-87d9-7db473e24614@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Newberry <newberryxy@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

....
I am having difficulties with the concept of DISTRIBUTION. Miller
defines distribution as: ³A term is said to be distributed by a
proposition when the proposition states or implies something about all
of the term.² I cannot figure out what this means....

That's not surprising! Those final words "all of the term" are
much too vague. I'll copy out a better explanation of all this, from
some cyclostyled notes which my late colleague George Hughes used in
teaching about fifty years ago.

"The *denotation* of a term is the class of objects which the term names.
A term is *distributed* in a given proposition if that proposition
asserts something about the whole of its denotation.

"The subject of a universal proposition is always distributed, since a
universal proposition asserts that the whole of the subject-class is
included in or excluded from the predicate-class.

"The predicate of a negative proposition is always distributed, since a
negative proposition asserts the exclusion (partial or total) of the
subject-class from the whole of the predicate-class.

"Affirmative propositions have undistributed predicates for the
following reason. To say that S is contained (wholly or partly) in P is
to say that S is identical with some *part* (*possibly* the whole) of P.
Therefore, an affirmative proposition does not necessarily assert
anything of the whole of the denotation of the predicate.

"Particular propositions have undistributed subjects, since they assert
only that *some* of the subject-class is included in or excluded from
the predicate-class."

That should help you with the list you quoted:

He further provides a table of terms distributed by A, E, I, O:

A: subject
E: subject and predicate
O: predicate

The motive for talking about distribution is the rule of inference
(again quoted from Hughes):

"Terms undistributed in the premiss(es) must remain undistributed in the
conclusion."

The reason for that isn't too hard to see, but please ask again if
it's not clear.

Ken Pledger.
.

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