ty of an affirmation. "The conquest
of Darius by Alexander was honourable," or "Alexander in conquering
Darius was an honourable conqueror," is the syllogistic form of the
proposition: it is simply assertory, not qualified in any "mode".

There is a similar misunderstanding in Mr. Shedden's treatment of
"generally" as constituting a Modal in such sentences, as "Rivers
_generally_ flow into the sea". He argues that as _generally_ is not
part either of the Subject term or of the Predicate term, it must
belong to the Copula, and is therefore a _modal_ qualification of the
whole assertion. He overlooked the fact that the word "generally" is
an expression of Quantity: it determines the quantity of the Subject
term.

Finally it is sometimes held (_e.g._, by Mr. Venn) that the question
of Modality belongs properly to Scientific or Inductive Logic, and is
out of place in Formal Logic. This is so far accurate that it is
for Inductive Logic to expound the conditions of various degrees of
certainty. The consideration of Modality is pertinent to Formal Logic
only in so far as concerns special perplexities in the expression of
it. The treatment of it by Logicians has been rendered intricate by
torturing the old tradition to suit different conceptions of the end
and aim of Logic.

PART II.

DEFINITION.

CHAPTER I.

IMPERFECT UNDERSTANDING OF WORDS AND THE REMEDIES
THEREFOR.--DIALECTIC.--DEFINITION.

We cannot inquire far into the meaning of proverbs or traditional
sayings without discovering that the common understanding of general
and abstract names is loose and uncertain. Common speech is a
quicksand.

Consider how we acquire our vocabulary, how we pick up the words that
we use from our neighbours and from books, and why this is so soon
becomes apparent. Theoretically we know the full meaning of a name
when we know all the attributes that it connotes, and we are not
justified in extending it except to objects that possess all the
attributes. This is the logical ideal, but between the _ought to be_
of Logic and the _is_ of practical life, there is a vast difference.
How seldom do we conceive words in their full meaning! And who is to
instruct us in the full meaning? It is not as in the exact sciences,
where we start with a knowledge of the full meaning. In Geometry, for
example, we learn the definitions of the words used, _point_, _line_,
_parallel_, etc., before we proceed to use them. But in common speech,