The First Act of the Mind
Simple Apprehension produces Concepts, while the Third Act (Reasoning) produces these.
What are Arguments (or Syllogisms)?
In the proposition "All men are mortal," "All" indicates the Quantity, while the word "are" (the copula) indicates this.
What is Quality?
If an A proposition is True, then its Contradictory (O) must be this.
What is False?
This fallacy assumes that because Event B happened after Event A, Event A must have caused Event B.
What is Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc?
Of the Four Causes, this one is the purpose or end for which a thing exists (e.g., a house exists to provide shelter).
What is the Final Cause?
This term describes the mental act of isolating one aspect of a thing (like its color or shape) from the rest of it to form a concept.
What is Abstraction?
This Predicable distinguishes a Species from others in the same Genus (e.g., "Rational" distinguishes Humans from other Animals).
What is Specific Difference?
According to the rules of Distribution, Universal propositions always distribute the Subject, while Negative propositions always distribute this.
What is the Predicate?
A definition must not be this, meaning it cannot use the word being defined inside the definition itself.
What is Circular?
This is the philosophical belief that universals are only names and not real things.
What is Nominalism?
While a "Term" is logical and universal, this is merely the linguistic expression of a term in a specific language (e.g., "Dog" vs. "Chien").
What is a Word?
Identify the logical form (A, E, I, or O) of the following sentence: "Not every student passed the exam."
What is O (Particular Negative)? (equivalent to "Some students did not pass")
In the relationship of Subalternation, Truth flows in this direction (e.g., if A is True, I is True).
What is Downward?
This specific form of Ad Hominem attacks the psychological origin of an idea (e.g., "You only believe that because you were raised rich") rather than its truth.
What is the Genetic Fallacy?
This cause refers to the blueprint, definition, or essence that determines what a thing is (e.g., the design of a statue).
What is the Formal Cause?
As the Extension of a term decreases (e.g., going from "Animal" to "Human"), this attribute of the term necessarily increases.
What is Comprehension?
A Property (proprium) flows necessarily from the essence, but this Predicable is present in the subject merely by happenstance (e.g., "Baldness" in a human).
What is Accident?
If the proposition "Some men are angels" (I) is False, then its Subcontrary "Some men are not angels" (O) must be this.
What is True? (Subcontraries cannot both be false).
"To unmake an ambiguity, make a distinction" is the remedy for this fallacy, where a key term changes meaning during the argument.
What is Equivocation?
Extreme (Platonic) Realism places universals in a separate world of Forms, but Moderate (Aristotelian) Realism places universals here.
What is "In things themselves"?
Kreeft argues that Concepts are this kind of reality because they have no size, weight, or color, and can be in many minds at once without being divided.
What is Spiritual (or Immaterial)?
Modern logic claims that Universal propositions (A and E) lack this, meaning they do not imply the subject actually exists, whereas Aristotelian logic says they do.
What is Existential Import?
If the proposition "No men are mortal" (E) is False, then its Contrary "All men are mortal" (A) has this truth value.
What is Undetermined (or Unknown)? (Contraries can both be false).
While a "Nominal" definition explains how a word is used, this type of definition attempts to state the actual essence or nature of the thing itself.
What is an Essential Definition?
A spork and an anteater both share this as their ultimate remote final cause.
What is God, or the glorification of God?