The position has been taken that every proper name is at least partially connotative inasmuch as it necessarily implies individuality and the property of being called by the name in question. If we refer to anything by any name whatsoever, it 47 must at any rate have the quality of being called by that name. If we call a man John when he really passes by the name of James, we make a mistake; we attribute to him a quality which he does not possess,—that of passing by the name of John. This argument, although it does not appear to establish the conclusion that proper names are in any degree connotative, nevertheless calls attention to a distinctive peculiarity of proper names that is worthy of notice. The denotation of connotative names may, and usually does, vary from time to time; and this is true of connotative singular names as well as of general names. But it is clearly essential in the case of a proper name that (in any given use) the name shall be consistently affixed to the same individual object. It is, however, one thing to say that the identity of the object called by the name with that to which the name has previously been assigned is a condition essential to the correct use of a proper name, and another thing to say that this is connoted by a proper name. If indeed by connotation we mean the attributes by reason of the possession of which by any object the name is applicable to that object, it seems a case of ὕστερον πρότερον to include in the connotation the property of being called by the name.
EXERCISES.
26. Are such concepts as “equilateral triangle” and “equiangular triangle” identical or different? [K.]
[This question should be considered with reference to the discussion in sections [17] and [18].]
27. Let X1, X2, X3, X4, and X5 constitute the whole of a certain universe of discourse: also let a, b, c, d, e, f exhaust the properties of X1; a, b, c, d, e, g, those of X2; b, c, d, f, g, those of X3; a, b, d, e, f, those of X4; and a, c, e, f, g those of X5.
(i) Given that, under these conditions, a term has the connotation a, b, find its denotation and its comprehension, and determine an exemplification that would yield the same result.
(ii) Given that, under the same conditions, a term has the exemplification X4, X5, find its comprehension and its denotation, and determine a connotation that would yield the same result. [K.]
48 28. On what grounds may it be held that names may possess (a) denotation without connotation, (b) connotation without denotation?
Give illustrations shewing that the denotation of a term of which the connotation is known must be regarded as relative to the proposition in which it is used as subject and to the context in which the proposition occurs. [J.]
29. What do you consider to be the question really at issue when it is asked whether proper names are connotative?
Enquire whether the following names are respectively connotative or non-connotative: Caesar, Czar, Lord Beaconsfield, the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc, the Weisshorn, Greenland, the Claimant, the pole star, Homer, a Daniel come to judgment. [K.]
30. Bring out any special points that arise in the discussion of the extensional and intensional aspects of the following terms respectively: the Rosaceae, equilateral triangle, colour, giant. [C.]