Chapter 31

_PROPOSITIONS OF EXISTENCE._

A '=Proposition of Existence=', when in normal form, has, for its _Subject_, the Class "existing Things".

Its Sign of Quantity is "Some" or "No".

[Note that, though its Sign of Quantity tells us _how many_ existing Things are Members of its Predicate, it does _not_ tell us the _exact_ number: in fact, it only deals with _two_ numbers, which are, in ascending order, "0" and "1 or more."]

It is called "a Proposition of Existence" because its effect is to assert the _Reality_ (i.e. the real _existence_), or else the _Imaginariness_, of its Predicate.

[Thus, the Proposition "Some existing Things are honest men" asserts that the Class "honest men" is _Real_.

This is the _normal_ form; but it may also be expressed in any one of the following forms:--

(1) "Honest men exist"; (2) "Some honest men exist"; (3) "The Class 'honest men' exists"; (4) "There are honest men"; (5) "There are some honest men".

Similarly, the Proposition "No existing Things are men fifty feet high" asserts that the Class "men 50 feet high" is _Imaginary_.

This is the _normal_ form; but it may also be expressed in any one of the following forms:--

(1) "Men 50 feet high do not exist"; (2) "No men 50 feet high exist"; (3) "The Class 'men 50 feet high' does not exist"; (4) "There are not any men 50 feet high"; (5) "There are no men 50 feet high."]

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