Note 101 — Chapter II

It is argued by Father Clarke that singulars ought to be included under particulars, on the ground that when a predicate is asserted of one member only of a class, it is asserted of a portion only of the class. “Now if I say, This Hottentot is a great rascal, my assertion has reference to a smaller portion of the Hottentot nation than the proposition Some Hottentots are great rascals. The same is the case even if the subject be a proper name. London is a large city must necessarily be a more restricted proposition than Some cities are large cities ; and if the latter should be reckoned under particulars, much more the former” (Logic, p. 274). This view fails to recognise that what is really characteristic of the particular proposition is not its restricted character—since the particular is not inconsistent with the universal—but its indefinite character.