Note 272 — Chapter IX

The question may be raised whether a proposition of the form, If this P is Q, it is R, is properly to be described as a singular conditional or as a hypothetical. The answer is that a proposition of this form affords a kind of junction between the conditional and the hypothetical; it is derivable from the conditional, If any P is Q, it is R ; but it is itself hypothetical. The antecedent and the consequent are propositions of independent import; and the proposition as a whole is not directly reducible (as is the conditional, If any P is Q, it is P) to categorical form. Thus, the proposition, If any P is Q, it is R, may prima facie be reduced to the form Any P that is Q is R ; but the proposition, If this P is Q, it is R, certainly cannot be identified with the singular categorical, This P which is Q is R.