Proposition and Contradiction: The Definition of Proposition in Aristotle's Logical Works

• Main Authors: Seyyed Ammar Kalantar, Mahdi Ghavam Safar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Tabriz 2016-12-01
• Series: Philosophical Investigations
• Subjects: Aristotle; proposition; statement; contradiction; affirmation and negation; deduction
• Online Access: http://philosophy.tabrizu.ac.ir/article_5763.html

Aristotle in his logical works, in addition to the statement, introduces the concept of proposition and defines it based on affirmation and negation in Prior Analytics. There are two issues about Aristotle's view of preposition, i.e., the interpretation of its definition, and its relation to the statement. In this article, first, three interpretations of preposition, including Alexander of Aphrodisias' and classical ones, are discussed and criticized. And because Aristotle points to the relation between contradiction and proposition, first, the definition of contradiction from Aristotle's point of view and, then, its relation to proposition are discussed. Finally, my interpretation of proposition is explained: proposition is a statement which its relation with contradiction is considered and the attention to this relation leads to the acceptation of the rule of contradiction which is the foundation of each deduction. The linguistics meaning of proposition is compatible with this interpretation: proposition is to propose one side of contradiction, and because of this, the dialectical proposition has two forms: question form the answerer and its replay as a premise in dialectical deduction.