Greek Texts & Translations

There is also, differing from a proposition or judgement, what may be called a timid suggestion, the expression of which leaves one at a loss, e.g.

Can it be that pain and life are in some sort akin ?

Interrogations, inquiries and the like are neither true nor false, whereas judgements (or propositions) are always either true or false.

The followers of Chrysippus, Archedemus, Athenodorus, Antipater and Crinis divide propositions into simple and not simple. Simple are those that consist of one or more propositions which are not ambiguous, as "It is day." Not simple are those that consist of one or more ambiguous propositions. 7.1.69 They may, that is, consist either of a single ambiguous proposition, e.g. "If it is day, it is day," or of more than one proposition, e.g. "If it is day, it is light."

With simple propositions are classed those of negation, denial, privation, affirmation, the definitive and the indefinitive ; with those that are not simple the hypothetical, the inferential, the coupled or complex, the disjunctive, the causal, and that which indicates more or less. An example of a negative proposition is "It is not day." Of the negative proposition one species is the double negative. By double negative is meant the negation of a negation, e.g. "It is not not-day." Now this presupposes that it is day.

A denial contains a negative part or particle and a predication : such as this, "No one is walking." A privative proposition is one that contains a privative particle reversing the effect of a judgement, as, for example, "This man is unkind." An affirmative or assertory proposition is one that consists of a noun in the nominative case and a predicate, as "Dion is walking." A definitive proposition is one that consists of a demonstrative in the nominative case and a predicate, as "This man is walking." An indefinitive proposition is one that consists of an indefinite word or words and a predicate, e.g. "Some one is walking," or "There's some one walking"; "He is in motion."

Of propositions that are not simple the hypothetical, according to Chrysippus in his Dialectics and Diogenes in his Art of Dialectic, is one that is formed by means of the conditional conjunction "If." Now this conjunction promises that the second of two things follows consequentially upon the first, as, for instance, "If it is day, it is light." An inferential proposition according to Crinis in his Art of Dialectic is one which is introduced by the conjunction "Since" and consists of an initial proposition and a conclusion ; for example, "Since it is day-time, it is light." This conjunction guarantees both that the second thing follows from the first and that the first is really a fact. 7.1.72 A coupled proposition is one which is put together by certain coupling conjunctions, e.g. "It is day-time and it is light." A disjunctive proposition is one which is constituted such by the disjunctive conjunction "Either," as e.g. "Either it is day or it is night." This conjunction guarantees that one or other of the alternatives is false. A causal proposition is constructed by means of the conjunction "Because," e.g. "Because it is day, it is light." For the first clause is, as it were, the cause of the second. A proposition which indicates more or less is one that is formed by the word signifying "rather" and the word "than" in between the clauses, as, for example, "It is rather day-time than night." 7.1.73 Opposite in character to the foregoing is a proposition which declares what is less the fact, as e.g. "It is less or not so much night as day." Further, among propositions there are some which in respect of truth and falsehood stand opposed to one another, of which the one is the negative of the other, as e.g. the propositions "It is day" and "It is not day." A hypothetical proposition is therefore true, if the contradictory of its conclusion is incompatible with its premiss, e.g. "If it is day, it is light." This is true. For the statement "It is not light," contradicting the conclusion, is incompatible with the premiss "It is day." On the other hand, a hypothetical proposition is false, if the contradictory of its conclusion does not conflict with the premiss, e.g. "If it is day, Dion is walking." For the statement "Dion is not walking" does not conflict with the premiss "It is day."

An inferential proposition is true if starting from a true premiss it also has a consequent conclusion, as e.g. "Since it is day, the sun is above the horizon." But it is false if it starts from a false premiss or has an inconsequent conclusion, as e.g. "Since it is night, Dion is walking," if this be said in day-time. A causal proposition is true if its conclusion really follows from a premiss itself true, though the premiss does not follow conversely from the conclusion, as e.g. "Because it is day, it is light," where from the "it is day" the "it is light" duly follows, though from the statement "it is light" it would not follow that "it is day." But a causal proposition is false if it either starts from a false premiss or has an inconsequent conclusion or has a premiss that does not correspond with the conclusion, as e.g. "Because it is night, Dion is walking."