Note 298 — Chapter X

There are no doubt many cases in which as a matter of fact we understand alternants to be mutually exclusive. But this is not conclusive as shewing that even in these cases the mutual exclusiveness is intended to be expressed by the alternative proposition. For it will generally speaking be found that in such cases the fact that the alternants exclude one another is a matter of common knowledge quite independently of the alternative proposition; as, for example, in the proposition, He was first or second in the race. This point is further touched upon in Part III, Chapter 6.