§ 249. We must now examine the sub-division of universal propositions into Singular and General.
§ 250. A Singular proposition is one which has a singular term for its subject, e.g. 'Virtue is beautiful.'
§ 251. A General proposition is one which has for its subject a common term taken in its whole extent.
§ 252. Now when we say 'John is a man' or 'This table is oblong,' the proposition is quite as universal, in the sense of the predicate applying to the whole of the subject, as when we say 'All men are mortal.' For since a singular term applies only to one thing, we cannot avoid using it in its whole extent, if we use it at all.
§ 253. The most usual signs of generality in a proposition are the words 'all,' 'every,' 'each,' in affirmative, and the words 'no,' 'none,' 'not one,' &c. in negative propositions.
§ 254. The terminology of the division of propositions according to quantity is unsatisfactory. Not only has the indefinite proposition to be set down as particular, even when the sense manifestly declares it to be universal; but the proposition which is expressed in a particular form has also to be construed as indefinite, so that an unnatural meaning is imparted to the word 'some,' as used in logic. If in common conversation we were to say 'Some cows chew the cud,' the person whom we were addressing would doubtless imagine us to suppose that there were some cows which did not possess this attribute. But in logic the word 'some' is not held to express more than 'some at least, if not all.' Hence we find not only that an indefinite proposition may, as a matter of fact, be strictly particular, but that a proposition which appears to be strictly particular may be indefinite. So a proposition expressed in precisely the same form 'Some A is B' may be either strictly particular, if some be taken to exclude all, or indefinite, if the word 'some' does not exclude the possibility of the statement being true of all. It is evident that the term 'particular' has become distorted from its original meaning. It would naturally lead us to infer that a statement is limited to part of the subject, whereas, by its being opposed to universal, in the sense in which that term has been defined, it can only mean that we have nothing to show us whether part or the whole is spoken of.
§ 255. This awkwardness of expression is due to the indefinite proposition having been displaced from its proper position. Formerly propositions were divided under three heads—
(1) Universal,
(2) Particular,
(3) Indefinite.