CHAPTER II. :397 that is, some strange monsters are existent ; Carthage is no more, that is,-"Carthage has no being. . 3. The subject and, predicate of a proposition, are not always to be known -and distinguished by the placing of the words in the sentence, but by reflecting duly on the sense of the words, and on the mind or design of the speaker or writer : as if I say, in Africa there are many lions, I mean .many lions are existent in Africa : mangy -lions is the subject, and existent in Africa is the predicate. It is proper for a philosopher to understand geome- try; here the word,proper is the, predicate, - and -alt the rest is the subject, except Is the copula. 4. The subject =and predicate of a proposition ought always to be two .different ideas, or two different terms; for -where both the terms -and ideas are the same, it is called an identical propo- sition, which is mere trifling, .and-cannot -tend to .promote know- ledge; such as, - arule is:a rule, or a good man is a. good man. But there are some propositions, wherein the terms of the subject' and predicate seem to be the same ; yet the ideas are not the -same ; nor can these he called purely identical or trifling propositions ; such as home is home ; thatis, home is a conveni- ent or delightful place ; Socrates is Socrates ,still: that iis, the man `Socrates is still a philosopher : thehero was not a hero ; that is, the hero did not shew his- courage; what I have written I have written; that -is, what I wrote-I-still approve, and will not alter it : what is done, is done ; that is, it cannot be-undone. Itmay be easily observed in these propositions the term is equi- vocal, for.in the predicate it has a different idea-from-what it has in the subject. There Tire also some propositions wherein the terms of the subject and predicate differ, but the ideas are the same ; and these are not merely identical or trifling propositions as impudent is shameless; a billowis a wave; or fuetus (in Latin) is a wave; a globe is a round body. In these propositions either the words are explained by a definition of the name, or the ideas by a defi- nition of the thing, and therefore they are by no means useless, when formed for this purpose. CHAP. II. Of the various Kinds of Propositions. PROPOSITIONS may be distributed into various kinds, according to their subject, their copula, their predicate, their na- ture or composition, their sense, and their evidence, which dis- tributions will be explained in the following sections : SECT. I. -Of universal, particular, indefinite, and singular Propositions. PROPOSITIONS:may-bedivided according to their sub-
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