[lit-ideas] "Elementary Proposition"
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 19:18:42 EDT
Oops. I wrote there was no collocation for 'elementary proposition' in the
OED. I now see there are three, in entries: 'order', 'quantity', and 'state' --
below. Second and third quotes pretty relevant.
Cheers,
JL
----
1908 B. RUSSELL in Amer. Jrnl. Math. XXX. 238 A proposition containing no
apparent variable we will call an elementary proposition... Elementary
propositions together with such as contain only individuals as apparent
variables we
will call first-order propositions... We can thus form new propositions in
which
first-order propositions occur as apparent variables. These we will call
second-order propositions... Thus, e.g., if Epimenides asserts â??all
first-order
propositions affirmed by me are falseâ??, he asserts a second-order
proposition.
Ibid., Propositions of order n..will be such as contain propositions of order n
- 1, but of no higher order, as apparent variables.
1888 M. FREWEN Econ. Crisis i. 5 More emphatic still is John Stuart Mill's
statement of the â??quantity theoryâ??. â??That an increase of the quantity of
moneyâ??
, wrote Mill, â??raises prices, and a diminution lowers them, is the most
elementary proposition in the theory of currency.â??
1962 M. CRANSTON tr. Hartnack's Wittgenstein & Mod. Philos. ii. 13 A â??state
of affairsâ?? is a fact that in itself does not consist of facts... A state of
affairs is a combination of possible facts. Ibid. 14 If an elementary sentence,
or, better, an elementary proposition is true, then the state of affairs which
is spoken of exists.
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