Note 222 — Chapter VIII

The suppositions that follow are not intended to be exhaustive. We might, for instance, regard propositions as implying the existence both of their subjects and their predicates, but not of the contradictories of these; or we might regard universals as always implying the existence of their subjects, but particulars as not necessarily implying the existence of theirs (see note 3 on p. 241); or affirmatives as always implying the existence of their subjects, but negatives as not necessarily implying the existence of theirs. This last supposition represents the view of Ueberweg. Still another view is taken by Lewis Carroll, who regards all categorical propositions, except universal negatives, as implying the existence of their subjects. “In every proposition beginning with some or all, the actual existence of the subject is asserted. If, for instance, I say ‘all misers are selfish,’ I mean that misers actually exist. If I wished to avoid making this assertion, and merely to state the law that miserliness necessarily involves selfishness, I should say ‘no misers are unselfish,’ which does not assert that any misers exist at all, but merely that, if any did exist, they would be selfish” (Game of Logic, p. 19). It would take too much space, however, to give a separate discussion to suppositions other than those mentioned in the text.