CATEGORICAL PROPOSITIONS

Introduction:
In this Chapter, the reader will learn the relationship of a premise and its conclusion in
general.
It will show how an argument can be valid or invalid through the presentation of its
premise and conclusion and learn about the four (4) kinds of Categorical proposition
which also shows the relationship of one category to another category.
DEDUCTIVE ARGUMENT defined- an argument whose premises are claimed to
provide conclusive grounds for the truth of its conclusion.
VALIDITY: a characteristic of any deductive argument whose premises, if they were all
true would provide conclusive grounds for the truth of its conclusion. Such an argument
is said to be valid.
CLASSICAL or ARISTOTELIAN LOGIC: The traditional account of syllogistic
reasoning, in which certain interpretations of categorical propositions are presupposed.
MODERN or MODERN SYMBOLIC LOGIC: The account of syllogistic reasoning
accepted today. It differs in important ways from the traditional account.
1. Classes and Categorical Propositions
CLASSICAL LOGIC- deals mainly with arguments based on the relations of classes of
objects to one another.
Class defined- a collection of all objects that have specified characteristic in common.
Three ways to immediately see how two classes can be related
1. Wholly included or wholly contained-All in One class may be included in all of
another class.
Example: Dogs is wholly included in the class of all mammals.
2. Partially included or partially contained- Some of the members of one class may
be included in another class.
Example: All singers are partially included in the class of all females.
3. Two classes may have no members in common.
Example: Thus the class of all triangles and the class of all circles may be said to
exclude one another.
*In a deductive argument, we present propositions that state the relations between one
category and another category.
CATEGORICAL PROPOSITIONS- propositions with which such arguments are
formulated; building blocks of argument in the classical account of deductive logic.
Example:
No athletes are vegetarians.
All football players are athletes.
Therefore no football players are vegetarians.
In this illustrative argument the three categorical propositions are about the class of all
athletes, class of all vegetarians, and the class of all football players and each premise
affirms or denies that some class “S” is included in some other class “P” in whole or in
part.
The FOUR kinds of Categorical Propositions
Standard-form categorical propositions
1. All Politicians are liars
2. No politicians are liars
3. Some politicians are liars
4. Some politicians are not liars

*S for “subject class” and P for “predicate class”

1. UNIVERSAL AFFIRMATIVE PROPOSITIONS- it is asserted that the whole of a

class is included or contained in another class.
All S is P.
Example: All lawyers are wealthy people.
2. UNIVERSAL NEGATIVE PROPOSITIONS- It asserts that the subject class, S, is
wholly excluded from the predicate class P.

No S is P.
Example: No criminals are good citizens.

3. PARTICULAR AFFIRMATIVE PROPOSITIONS- it does not affirm or deny

anything about a specific class; it makes no pronouncements about the entire
class. Two different classes have “Some” member or members in common.

Some S is P.
Example: Some chemicals are poisons.

4. PARTICULAR NEGATIVE PROPOSITIONS- it does not affirm the inclusion of

some members of the first class in the second class; this is precisely what denied
is.
 Some S is not P.
Example: Some insects are not pests.

These propositions are the building blocks of deductive arguments. In each of these
FOUR standard forms a relation is expressed between a subject class and a predicate
class.
CONCLUSION:
We can now say that in understanding Categorical Propositions, we need to know our
subject, predicate and know what the statement is trying to prove in connection with the
relationship of its premise and conclusion. Analyze propositions by distinguishing the
relationship of one category to another through these A, E, I, O kinds of propositions.
The Following topics will further provide a clearer view on how we can better
understand categorical propositions and its kinds.