Definition and Classification of the Term
What is a term? Its definition as a sensible, arbitrary sign that manifests an idea, and its classification by exactness (univocal, equivocal, analogous), by Comprehension, and by Extension.
A term is a sensible, arbitrary sign that manifests an idea and the reality which that idea represents. Sensible: it must be perceptible (audible, visible, or gesticular). Arbitrary: its connection with the idea is by convention, not nature. By the exactness of its signification, a term is univocal (same sense throughout), equivocal (utterly different senses in the same context), or analogous (different but related senses — by proportion or by attribution). By comprehension, terms are positive, negative, or privative; simple or complex; concrete or abstract. By extension, terms are singular, universal, indefinite, particular, or collective. The complex term has a principal member (expressing the leading idea) and an incidental member (qualifying that idea) — a structure that recurs in the analysis of compound propositions.
Just as Chapter I studied the idea as it exists in the mind, this Chapter studies the idea as it is exteriorly expressed by the term.
a) Definition of the Term
A term is a sensible, arbitrary sign which manifests an idea and the reality which that idea represents in the mind.
1. A term is a sensible, arbitrary sign
A sign is anything that gives knowledge of something other than itself. Smoke is a sign of fire; a red flag is a sign of danger; a portrait is a sign of the person it represents. We distinguish:
- Formal vs. instrumental signs. If the sign resembles the thing signified, it is a formal sign (e.g., a portrait). Otherwise it is an instrumental sign (e.g., smoke for fire).
- Natural vs. arbitrary signs. An instrumental sign is natural if the connection with what it signifies is based on the nature of things (smoke → fire). It is arbitrary (or conventional) if not (a red flag → danger).
A term must be a sensible sign — perceivable by one or more of the senses.
- Audible signs may manifest emotion (laughter, a groan), or they may manifest an idea, in which case the audible sign is an oral term — a word or group of words expressing, through articulate sounds, an idea and the reality that idea represents.
- Categorematic words can manifest an idea on their own and are always terms (house, home, hill, beauty, truth).
- Syncategorematic words must be grouped with others to express an idea and are never terms on their own (of, because, very, prepositions, articles, adverbs, interjections).
- Visible signs may manifest emotion (trembling, pallor) or an idea, in which case the visible sign is either a gesticular term (as in sign language) or a written term.
2. A term manifests an idea
Signs which manifest emotion or mere qualities are not terms. A devout attitude is a sign of prayerfulness, but not a term. A term to justify its name must manifest an idea.
3. A term manifests an idea and the reality which that idea represents
A term does not merely signal the presence of an idea in the speaker’s mind; it also expresses — conveys to the hearer’s knowledge — the objective reality of which the idea is an essential representation. The term sun, for example, conveys not merely that the speaker has the idea sun, but the heavenly body itself.
Note also: while terms serve chiefly in conveying ideas to other minds, they also serve in expressing ideas to ourselves. One cannot express ideas clearly to others unless one has first expressed them with clearness to oneself; thinking goes on in, or to the accompaniment of, a kind of internal speech.
b) Classification of the Term
Terms are classified according to three aspects: the exactness with which they manifest ideas; the Comprehension of the idea expressed; and the Extension of the idea expressed.
1. By Exactness: Univocal, Equivocal, Analogous
A term used throughout a given context in precisely the same sense is univocal. (“Man is mortal, man must die” — man is univocal.)
A term used in two or more utterly different senses in the same context is equivocal. (“There is a bank on the bank of the stream” — bank is equivocal.)
A term used in different but related senses — not identical, not entirely different — is analogous. Two kinds:
i. Analogy of Proportion. When the relation between the normal and the figurative sense of a term is based on likeness or resemblance. “Smiling meadowlands” — there is a conceivable resemblance between a smiling human face and bright sunlight on green fields. Other examples: “frowning skies,” “the running sea,” “the rude imperious surge.”
ii. Analogy of Attribution. When the relation between proper and figurative sense is based on something other than resemblance. “A cruel spear” — cruelty, in proper sense, can only be attributed to a person; here it is attributed to a weapon that serves as the instrument of cruelty. There is no resemblance, but instrumentality. Another example: “a healthy climate.”
2. By Comprehension: Positive, Negative, Privative; Simple, Complex; Concrete, Abstract
Positive terms express a thing or affirmation (man, wealth, love of God).
Negative terms express the absence of a thing (non-living, immensity, infinity). Note: negative terms denote absence whether that absence marks an imperfection or a perfection. Infinity denotes the absence of limitation — the greatest perfection thinkable — and is still a negative term. Terms are positive or negative by reason of their form: if they have a negative particle as prefix (in-, un-, non-, im-) or suffix (-lessness), they are negative.
Privative terms are negative terms that denote the absence of a perfection that ought to be present (ignorance in one who could and should know; blindness in one who should have sight).
Simple terms consist of a single word (man, brother, humanity).
Complex terms consist of more than one word (love of God, the President of these United States). A complex term always has a principal member (expressing the leading idea) and an incidental member (qualifying that idea). In “The love of God,” the principal member is love and the incidental member is of God. Mastering this distinction is important, as it recurs in the study of complex propositions.
Concrete terms express a concrete idea — something as a substrate together with its determinant (man, wood, wise and prudent leader).
Abstract terms express an abstract idea — a determinant as separated from its subject (humanity, woodiness, wisdom, prudence).
3. By Extension: Singular, Universal, Indefinite, Particular, Collective
- Singular: this circle, my father, Alfred E. Smith
- Universal: all circles, every father, each candidate
- Indefinite (no word indicating scope of extension): circles, fathers, candidates
- Particular: some circles, many fathers, several candidates
- Collective (expressing groups): this family, all juries, some armies, committee, delegation, crowd — collective terms may themselves be singular, universal, particular, or indefinite
A singular term is proper if it is a singular and individual name (Al Smith, St. Charles College, Nevada), or common if it is a general name limited to an individual by a restrictive particle (this candidate, one college, that state).
Summary of the Article
We have studied the term as the expression of an idea and the reality represented by that idea. We have learned that the term is a sign, distinguished signs as formal and instrumental, and subdivided the latter as natural and arbitrary. We have discussed signs as audible and visible, and terms as oral, gesticular, and written.
In classifying terms we have listed them as univocal, equivocal, and analogous; have studied the two kinds of analogy (proportion and attribution); and have learned the further classification of terms as: positive, negative, privative; simple, complex; concrete, abstract; singular, universal, indefinite, particular, collective. Singular terms we have distinguished as proper and common.