The Use of the Term

Article 2. The Use of the Term

a) Supposition    b) Appellation

A term may be used in two ways, viz., a) to signify a definite reality, and b) to modify or qualify the signification of another term. The first use is called Supposition; the second use is called Appellation.

a) Supposition of Terms

If you look up a term in the dictionary you are likely to find a list of meanings. Suppose you look up the word “body,” a common term. You will find a long litany of definitions. Among others you will notice:

1. the total organized substance of an animal or plant, living or dead;
2. the trunk or main part as distinguished from limbs and head;
3. a person, a human being — often in composition, as anybody, everybody;
4. a kind or form of matter; a material substance;
5. a number of things or individuals collectively, as “a body of troops”;
6. that part of a garment designed to cover the body;
7. a distinct mass of matter, as “a body of water”;
8. consistency, substance, thickness, as “a paint of good body”;
9. a corpse.

Now when you use the term “body” in a given context, you select one definite sense of that term. That selection is your supposition or taking of the term. For example, if you say, “The body rested in state in the Cathedral,” your supposition of the term body is in the sense of “corpse.”

The whole list of senses in which it is possible to use a term constitutes its meaning or signification; or, more accurately, its general meaning or general signification. Supposition is special; it is the taking of a term in a special meaning, a definite and restricted signification. We distinguish different kinds of supposition:

i. Material Supposition. When a term is taken to signify itself as a group of words, letters, or sounds, its supposition is material. In the statement “Man is a monosyllable,” the supposition of the term “man” is material. Other examples of material supposition: “Jones is a proper name”; “Mankind is accented on the last syllable”; “Good name is not hyphenated.”

ii. Formal Supposition. When a term is used to signify a reality other than itself, it is formal in supposition. Formal supposition may express a mode of being which a reality has in the mind, or according to one’s understanding of the reality, and then its formal supposition is logical. Examples of logical supposition: “Man is a species” (that is, an inferior of the Universal animal; not a material or biological class). — When formal supposition expresses a mode of being which a thing has in nature apart from the consideration of the mind, the supposition is real or ontological. Examples: “Man is mortal”; “Man wants but little here below.” When a collective term is used, its real supposition may be collective or distributive, according as it signifies a group as a unit or as individuals. Example of collective supposition: “The jury reached a verdict” (that is, as a unit). Example of distributive supposition: “The jury went home” (that is, the members of the jury went to their several homes).

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b) Appellation of Terms

Appellation is the application of the idea expressed in one term to a reality expressed in another term. When one says, for example, “a good philosopher,” the idea expressed in the term “good” is applied to the reality expressed in the term “philosopher.” The appellation of terms amounts to the application of one term to another. The term applied is the appellant; the term to which application is made is the appellate. Thus in the term, “a good philosopher,” the appellant is “good,” and the appellate is “philosopher.”

When an appellant is applied to a concrete term, two senses are possible. For a concrete term means two things, viz., a subject reality, and a determinant or modification. Thus the concrete term “man” means “something” (subject) which has the determinant of “humanity.” Again, the term “philosopher” means “somebody” (subject) who has the determinant “knowledge of philosophy.” Now the subject or substrate reality involved in the concrete expression is called the matter-signified, while the determinant or qualifier is the form-signified. This leads us to the following classification of appellation:

i. Material Appellation. When the appellant is applied to the matter-signified, the appellation is material. Thus if the term, “a good philosopher” is taken to mean a good man who knows philosophy, the appellation is material. If the term, “a truthful artist” means a truth-telling individual who happens to know how to paint, the appellation is material.

ii. Formal Appellation. When the appellant is applied to the form-signified, the appellation is formal. Thus if the term “a good philosopher” is taken to mean a man who has a good understanding of philosophy, the appellation is formal. Again, if the term, “a truthful artist” is taken to mean an artist whose work expresses truth, the appellation is formal.

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Summary of the Article

In this Article we have learned carefully to distinguish between the general meaning of a term and its use, or supposition, in a special instance. We have divided supposition into two classes, material and formal, and the latter we distinguished as logical and real; real supposition of collective terms we distinguished as collective and distributive. We also studied the application of terms to terms, or Appellation, and this again we distinguished as Material and Formal Appellation.