Unit 12 Part 1: Categorical Propositions: GMU Phil 173 DL Instructor: Kuykendall

Unit 12 Part 1:
Categorical Propositions
GMU Phil 173 DL
Instructor: Kuykendall
Overview
Most sentences we use are of the subject-
predicate form.
“The puppy is cute”

Overview
• Some sentences are not, such as imperatives:
“Stop tickling the cute puppy!”

Overview
• A big chunk of these subject-predicate form
sentences are categorical propositions—
where the subject and predicate are both
classes or categories.
Overview
• Classes are collections of things united by a
common property, such as whales, flowers,
and dirt devils, red things, round things, hot
things, and so on.
The Class of Hot Things
Overview
• In this unit, we will learn about the four types
of categorical propositions, their relations,
their symbolizations, and how to Venn
diagram them.
Unit 12 Objectives
• Learn the definition of categorical proposition
and the four types of categorical propositions.
• Understand the relationships between sets,
properties, and individuals.
• Using Venn diagrams, be able to diagram all
four types of categorical propositions.
• Know the symbolizations in quantifier logic for
the four types of categorical propositions.
Unit 12 Objectives
• Learn the negation equivalences that hold
between categorical propositions.
• Be able to derive the categorical negation
equivalences from the simple quantifier
negation equivalences.
• Be able to symbolize English sentences that
have the form of categorical propositions or
their negations.
The Four Categorical Propositions
Recall:
• Most English sentences can be analyzed
into their subject and predicates.
• The subjects of English sentences are
either an individual or a class.
• Former case: Singular sentences
– Paul is brave.
• Paul is an individual
• Latter case: Categorical Sentences
– Mall cops are brave.
• Mall cops are a class
Categorical Sentences
• A Categorical Sentence is a sentence in which
both the subject and predicate are classes and
that states an inclusion or exclusion relation
between the two classes.
Examples of categorical sentences:
• Whales are mammals.
• Early 2000 bros wore sea-shell necklaces.
• Note that sometimes the subject is a simple

class term such as “whales” and other times
it’s complex such as “early 2000 bros”.
• In the complex case, the subject is the noun
plus the modifiers.
– So it’s not just bros but Early 2000 bros.
– We are restricting our focus to a subset of all bros.
Not, for example,

Viking Bros
• The predicate expression is simply the
sentence minus its subject expression and
quantifiers.
• “are mammals” is the predicate expression in

“Whales are mammals”
• There are only four kinds of categorical
sentences and this is because of the basic
relation between classes:
containment/inclusion:
• Total inclusion
• Partial inclusion
• Total exclusion
• Partial exclusion
The A Proposition
Total Inclusion
The Universal Affirmative:

Says something positive about the ENTIRE class.
Universal Affirmative
“All yuppies work in the city”

People who work in the city
Yuppies
Important:
• When logicians define “A” or “Universal
Affirmative” propositions as propositions that
say something positive about a whole class,
they do not mean that A propositions say
something nice about the whole class.
• Instead, it means that there is no negations.

A Propositions
“All Indianapolis Colts fans are evil”

The I Proposition
Partial Inclusion
And you
You, You You,
,
The Particular Affirmative:

Says something about SOME members of a class.
The I Proposition
“Some yuppies wear performance outdoors
wear on the weekends.”
The Northern Virginia

Yuppie who’s not really
going hiking. He’s going to
the Farmer’s market.
People who wear
performance outdoor wear
Yuppies
The other yuppies
The I Proposition
• Note: That’s a proposition about some, not all
yuppies.
The I Proposition
“Some yuppies dress like they are going sailing
with the Kennedy’s at Martha’s Vineyard on
the weekends.”
The DC City limit yuppie

who’s not really going
sailing. He’s getting
cheesecake with his
girlfriend.
The E Proposition
Total Exclusion
Universal Negative
Subject is totally excluded from predicate class
Yuppies People who eat at Waffle House
The E Proposition
“No yuppie would ever eat at Waffle House”
If they want to miss out on

smothered, covered, and
peppered hash browns, then
that’s their loss.
The O Proposition
Partial Exclusion
The Particular Negative

The O Proposition
“Some yuppies do not pronounce “Target” as
“Tar-jay”
People who
pronounce
“Target” as “Tar-
Yuppies who do jay”
not pronounce ?
“Target” as
“Tar-jay”
The Four Categorical Sentences
of the Logicalypse
A I E O
Affirmo – Latin for I affirm
Nego – Latin for I deny
First vowel represents universal, second vowel

particular
Mnemonic for AIEO:
“All Idiots Enjoy Oranges”

Q. How does one tell what

form an English sentence is?
A. Look for quantifier and negation words.
– Words such as “All”, “Every” indicate that the
sentence is universal.
• If the sentence lacks negations it’s an A.
Example: “All great lakes contain freshwater”

• Words such as “None” or “Nothing” probably
indicate E propositions.
– Example: “None of George’s coworkers like him.”
George’s Coworkers
George
• Words such as “Some” indicate particulars.
– Again, if the sentence lacks negations, it’s an I
proposition.
Example: “Some bikers love poodles.”
• If the sentence which stands for a particular
proposition has a negation, it’s an O
proposition.
“Some poodles do not like bikers.”
• Additionally, particular sentences are
existential, so look for phrases indicating
existence such as “There are”.
“There are bees in your car!”
Tricky Phrase: “There are no”
• It Indicates an E proposition.
– “There are no cats in heaven”
Cats go to that
other place
• When the words “All” and “Some” are absent,
you’ll just have to use your noggin.
– For example, “Dogs go to Heaven” is likely an A
proposition that is equivalent to “All dogs go to
Heaven”.
• Note: Predicate classes are classes of things.
This means some rephrasing is in order for
some sentences.
• Book’s example: if the predicate is “having
flees” the predicate class is not “having fleas”
but “things that have fleas”
• Do Exercise 1
Individuals, Sets, and Properties
• An individual is a single, particular thing.
For example, Bob:

• A class is a collection of things
– Example: The Bobs
• A property of an individual is characteristic or
attribute of that individual.
– Example: The property of being Mustached.
• An individual is a member of a set or class in
virtue of having a property.
– Being mustached
• An individual is a member of a set or class in
virtue of having a property.
– Being named “Bob”
• Classes are represented by capital letters.
– Example: A, B, C, D, E, F, . . . , Z
• Individuals by lowercase letters.

–Example: a, b, c, d, e, f, . . . , z
To say an individual has a property, we use a
singular sentence:
Let Px stand for a property.
If Bob has the property P then that is symbolized

as Pb.
• Let Mx stand for x is mustached.
• We can symbolize “Bob is mustached” as Mb.

• To say that Bob is a member of a class, we’d

use the Greek letter epsilon ϵ and write b ϵ P
• For logical purposes, to say that an individual
has a certain property is to say that the
individual is a member of a certain class.
• If Bob is mustached then Bob is a member of

the class of mustached things.
Mustached Things
Mustached Things
• Thus, the two expressions Pb and b ϵ P are
logically equivalent.
Unit 12 Part 2:
Categorical Propositions
GMU Phil 173 DL
Instructor: Kuykendall
Overview
• A Propositions
– “All S are P”
• I Propositions
– “Some S are P”
• E Propositions
– “No S are P”
• O Propositions
– “Some S are not P”
Overview
• I and O propositions are existential
propositions: We infer the existence of
something.
Overview
“Some man holding a large sign is knocking at

the door”
Overview
Is a way of saying that “There is a man holding a

large sign knocking at the door”
You Won The Lottery!!!
Overview
A and E propositions are not existential

propositions, we cannot infer the existence of
something.
Overview
The A and E propositions in fact rule out

existence of some sort.
Overview
• A is negation of O
– “All dogs are mammals” is logically equivalent to
“It is not the case that there are some dogs that
are not mammals.”
Overview
• E is negation of I
– “No dogs are cats” is logically equivalent to “It is
not the case that there are some dogs that are
cats.”
Overview
• Use positive terms to describe predicate
classes
– “Things that like peanuts” as opposed to “Things
that do not like peanuts”
– Otherwise class is way too broad and non-specific
Symbolizing Categorical Propositions
I Proposition
• Says there is overlap between the subject and
predicate class: There is an x such that x is S
and x is P.
– Thus you use the existential quantifier and a
conjunction:
• (Ex)(Sx & Px)
I Proposition
Subject Predicate
O Proposition
• Says there are some S’s that are not P’s, there
is some x such that x is S and x is not P:
– Thus you use the existential quantifier and a
conjunction with the predicate conjunct negated:
• (Ex)(Sx & ~Px)
O Proposition
Subject X Predicate
• Important: You must use parentheses around
the propositional function to correctly
symbolize the categorical sentence.
• You are saying that the very same object is

both a member of S and P (or not P).
• The A and E proposition are both symbolized
as conditioners.
as conditioners.
as conditioners.
The A and E proposition are both symbolized as

conditionals.
A Proposition
• “All cats are mammals” is logically equivalent
to: “For any x, if x is a cat then x is a mammal”
In spite of Nibble’s
best efforts to be a
bakable
comestible.
• Generally, an A proposition says that all things
of a certain sort has a certain property: that all
things which are a member of the subject
class are also members of the predicate class.
–(x)(Sx  Px)
A Proposition
Predicate
Subject
E Proposition
• “No cats are dogs” is logically equivalent to
“For any x, if x is a cat then x is not a dog.”
• Generally, an E proposition says that all things
of a certain sort lack a certain property; that
all things which are a member of the subject
class are not members of the predicate class:
–(x)(Sx  ~Px)
E Proposition
Subject Predicate
Why conditionals?
Universals rule out the existence of things.

• A Proposition:
– If all dogs are mammals, then there is not some
dog that is not a mammal.
• E Proposition:
– If no dogs are cats, then there is not some dog
that is a cat.
• Easy to understand in some cases:
– If x is a unicorn then x has a horn
– Does not imply that there are unicorns. Only
implies that IF there were unicorns, then they
would have horns.
Unicorn Imposter
Negated Categorical Propositions
• Just as with the equivalences we learned in
the last chapter, the negation of a universal is
always an existential and the negation of an
existential is always a universal.
• This applies not just to simple quantified

sentences but also the categorical
propositions we learn in this chapter.
Specifically:
• The negation on an A is an O
• The negation of an I is an E
• The negation of an E is an I
• The negation of an O is an A
Negated A example
• Not every billionaire wears a monocle.
– Symbolized: ~(x)(BxMx)
• Well…if not every billionaire wears a monocle
then there must be at least one billionaire that
does not wear a monocle.
– (Ex)(Bx & ~Mx)
Negated I example
“There is not some logic professor who has good
fashion sense.”
– Symbolized: ~(Ex)(Lx & Gx)
• Well… if there is not some logic professor who
has good fashion sense then no logic professor
has good fashion sense or for every logic
professor, it is not the case that he or she has
good fashion sense.
– Symbolized: (x)(Lx  ~Gx)
Professor Kuykendall
on a good day
Negated E example:
“It is not the case that no cat likes being tickled”
Symbolized: ~(x)(Cx  ~Tx)

• If it is not the case that no cat likes being
tickled then there is at least one cat that likes
being tickled.
• (Ex)(Cx & Tx)

Mittens
Moar!!
Negated O example
It is not the case that there is not some dog who

likes to drink out of the toilet
Symbolized: ~(Ex)(Dx & ~Tx)

• If it is not the case that there is not some dog
who likes to drink out of the toilet, then EVERY
dog likes to drink out of the toilet.
• Symbolized: (x)(Dx  Tx)

Categorical Quantifier
Negation Equivalences
~A ~(x)(SxPx) = O (Ex)(Sx & ~P)
~I ~(Ex)(Sx & Px) = E (x)(Sx~Px)
~E ~(x)(Sx~Px) = I (Ex)(Sx & Px)
~O ~(Ex)(Sx & ~Px) = A (x)(SxPx)

Deriving CQN Rules from QN Rules
• You can derive the CQN equivalences from the
QN equivalences we saw in Unit 11.
• To do so, you need to know the QN

equivalences and the familiar rules of
Conditional Exchange, De Morgans, and
Double Negation.
Deriving CQN Rules from QN Rules
Here’s an example:
1. ~A ~(x)(Fx  Gx)
2. (Ex) ~ (Fx  Gx) QN
3. (Ex) ~ (~Fx v Gx) CE
4. (Ex)(~~Fx & ~Gx)Dem.
5. (Ex)(Fx & ~Gx) DN
• Do exercise 3
Symbolizing English
• Step 1: Identify the Form. Is it an A, I, E, or O?
• Step 2: Identify the subject and predicate
• Step 3: Symbolize the subject and predicate

Symbolizing English
• Examples: “Every Marylander knows that Blue
Crabs are best with Old Bay”
• A proposition
– Form: Every S is P
– Structure: (x)(Sx Px)
Symbolizing English
• Subject: Marylander
• Predicate: Things that know that Blue crabs
are best with Old Bay
• Symbolization:
– Mx = x is a Marylander, Bx=thing that knows that
Blue crabs are best with Old Bay
– (x)(Mx  Bx)
Symbolizing English
Note: Not all universal propositions have
quantifier words such as “all” or “every”.
Example: “Vegetarians eat tofu”

Symbolizing English
• While there are no quantifier words, the
sentence is about all vegetarians—the whole
class.
• So the form is that of an A proposition: All S

are P or (x)( Sx  Px)
– “All vegetarians eat tofu”
Symbolizing English
Context is key:
• “Children are present” is an I proposition, not
an A.
What an angel
Symbolizing English
• “Somebody”, “Some”, “Something”, “There
are” indicate I and O propositions.
• If no negations, then I propositions.

Symbolizing English
Example of I
• “Some logic students would rather be watching
Netflix”
– Form: I
Let L=x is a logic student

Let N=thing that would rather be watching Netflix
• (Ex)(Lx & Nx)
Symbolizing English
Example of O
• “Some dogs do not like car rides”
– Form O
Let D=x is a dog

Let C=thing that likes car rides
(Ex)(Dx & ~Cx)

Symbolizing English
The word “only” indicates a universal
proposition
• However, in general, subject and predicate are
reversed
– Example: “Only Marylanders like Old Bay” means
“For any x, if x likes Old Bay, then x is a
Marylander”.
Symbolizing English
• The converse of the symbolization for All
Marylanders like Old Bay
• Also applies to negated “onlys”
– Not only Marylanders like Old Bay
• Means: It is not the case that for any x, if x likes Old Bay,
then x is a Marylander
– OR: There is some x such that x likes Old Bay and x is not a
Marylander
Bill Stephenson,
from Wilmington, Delaware
Delaware is pretty much Maryland.

Symbolizing English
Double Negations
• Can also be tricky. Best to eliminate the
negations before symbolizing.
– “There was nobody who didn’t get fed”
Which means…
Symbolizing English
• “Everybody got fed.”
• (Including the dog)
Symbolizing English
• Symbolize the latter instead.
• Now let’s look at some exercises.
Exercise IL
“Anyone who doesn’t care is crazy”
Exercise IL
• Universal
– (x)(  )
• Subject: Someone who doesn’t care.
– Propositional Function of subject: Cx for x is a
person who cares
• Predicate: Someone who is crazy
– Propositional Function: Rx for x is crazy
Exercise IL
• But recall the negation in the subject:
– (x)(~Cx  Rx)
• It’s not an E because the consequent is not

negated.
• It’s an A.
Exercise 2.P.
“Some cats don’t like fish”
• It’s an O
• There is some x such that x is a cat and x does
not like fish.
• (Ex)(Cx & ~Fx)
Exercises 4.R.
“Not all those who didn’t show up for the party
dislike the host”
“Simon thought
everyone liked
him”
Exercises 4.R.
• “Not all those who didn’t show up for the
party dislike the host”
• It’s a negated universal.

– ~(x)( )
Exercises 4.R.
• “Not all those who didn’t show up for the
party dislike the host”
• Subject: Those who did not show up for the
party
– How about Sx for x is a person who showed up for
the party
• ~Sx
Exercises 4.R.
• Predicate: Persons who dislike the host
• Could be symbolized as a negation:
– Lx for x likes the host
Exercises 4.R.
• ~Lx for it is not the case that x likes the host or
x dislikes the host.
– ~(x)(~Sx  ~Lx)
• It looks like a negated E which is equivalent to
an I
– (Ex)(~Sx & Lx)
Exercise 5.R.
• “Not everybody here is unappreciated”
– Rx=x is a person here
– Ax=x is appreciated
• It’s a negated universal
– ~(x)(  )
– ~(x)(Rx  ~Ax)
• It’s a negated E
– Or again, an I
– (Ex)(Rx & Ax)
Exercise 6.R.
“There is no cat that is not beautiful
– Looks like a negated existential
• ~(Ex)(__ & __)
– Cx=x is a cat
– Tx=x is beautiful
• ~(Ex)(Cx & ~Tx)
– It’s a negated O which is equivalent to an A
– (x)(Cx  Tx)
Exercise 7.J.
~(Ex)(Sx & ~Rx)
– Sx=x is a snake
– Rx=x is a reptile
“There is not some x such that x is a snake and x

is not a reptile”
OR
“Every snake is a reptile”

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Unit 12 Part 1:

“The puppy is cute”

“Stop tickling the cute puppy!”

• Note that sometimes the subject is a simple

Not, for example,

• “are mammals” is the predicate expression in

The Universal Affirmative:

“All yuppies work in the city”

• Instead, it means that there is no negations.

“All Indianapolis Colts fans are evil”

The Particular Affirmative:

The Northern Virginia

The DC City limit yuppie

If they want to miss out on

The Particular Negative

Nego – Latin for I deny

First vowel represents universal, second vowel

“All Idiots Enjoy Oranges”

Q. How does one tell what

Example: “All great lakes contain freshwater”

For example, Bob:

• Individuals by lowercase letters.

Let Px stand for a property.

If Bob has the property P then that is symbolized

• We can symbolize “Bob is mustached” as Mb.

• To say that Bob is a member of a class, we’d

• If Bob is mustached then Bob is a member of

“Some man holding a large sign is knocking at

Is a way of saying that “There is a man holding a

A and E propositions are not existential

The A and E propositions in fact rule out

• You are saying that the very same object is

The A and E proposition are both symbolized as

Universals rule out the existence of things.

• This applies not just to simple quantified

“It is not the case that no cat likes being tickled”

Symbolized: ~(x)(Cx  ~Tx)

• (Ex)(Cx & Tx)

It is not the case that there is not some dog who

Symbolized: ~(Ex)(Dx & ~Tx)

• Symbolized: (x)(Dx  Tx)

~I ~(Ex)(Sx & Px) = E (x)(Sx~Px)

~E ~(x)(Sx~Px) = I (Ex)(Sx & Px)

~O ~(Ex)(Sx & ~Px) = A (x)(SxPx)

• To do so, you need to know the QN

• Step 2: Identify the subject and predicate

• Step 3: Symbolize the subject and predicate

Example: “Vegetarians eat tofu”

• So the form is that of an A proposition: All S

• If no negations, then I propositions.

Let L=x is a logic student

Let D=x is a dog

(Ex)(Dx & ~Cx)

Delaware is pretty much Maryland.

• It’s not an E because the consequent is not

• It’s a negated universal.

“There is not some x such that x is a snake and x

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