Unit 2 of Logic – I (syllabus: Module II — proposition, sentence, judgment and fact; constituents and the copula; the traditional classification and distribution of terms; reducing sentences to logical form; the modern classification and general propositions). Below: what the unit covers, the provisions it turns on, and the cases an examiner expects you to name.
What this unit covers
- What is a proposition, and how does it differ from a sentence, a judgment and a fact?
- What is the copula, and why is the traditional analysis of proposition defective?
- How are propositions classified by quality and quantity into the fourfold scheme?
- When is a term distributed, and what governs distribution?
- How is a sentence reduced to its logical form?
- How does the modern classification divide propositions, and on what test?
- What are the truth conditions of the five kinds of compound proposition?
- How are the four traditional forms symbolised in modern logic, and what does the symbolisation show?
- Where do the traditional and the modern classifications genuinely disagree?
Treat that list as a self-test: recite each topic's rule from memory before you open its cases.
Provisions
- Proposition, sentence, judgment and fact distinguished, s. Module 2, head 2.1
- Meaning of predication with special reference to the copula, s. Module 2, head 2.10
- Traditional classification: the fourfold classification of propositions, s. Module 2, head 2.2
- Distribution of terms in A, E, I and O propositions, s. Module 2, head 2.4
- Reduction of sentences to their logical forms, s. Module 2, head 2.3
- Modern classification of propositions: kinds of simple and compound propositions, s. Module 2, head 2.6
- Basic truth tables for compound propositions, s. Module 2, head 2.6
- General propositions in modern logic: universal and existential propositions, s. Module 2, head 2.7
- Comparative study of the traditional and modern classifications, s. Module 2, heads 2.8 and 2.9
Leading cases
- Cohen and Nagel
- Aristotle
- Kant
- Keynes
- Aristotle for the traditional reading; the modern reading is the one set against it