Early Modern Theories of Judgement and Propositional Operations

Abstract

Early modern psychology of propositions and judgements rested upon the traditional doctrine of combining and dividing non-complex items. This ancient way of thinking was still commonly followed both in scholastically-minded philosophy and in later currents, though there were some terminological changes, like the increased use of the word ‘idea’ for what is combined and divided. The distinction between apprehensive composition and assertoric judgement act was also discussed by many authors. In the authoritative Port-Royal logic by Arnauld and Nicole, it was argued that the verb ‘to be’ in a proposition expresses the mental act of combining and at the same time signifies judgement and assertion (1).