CHAPTER 3 IDEAS AND TERMS

IDEA
 Ideas begin with the sense data; the sense organs accept a number of
impressions from the great number of stimuli coming from the external
world. An image is then produced. Our images refer to the sensible aspects
of reality, and by abstraction performed by the intellect, the essential
elements are separated from the sensible qualities and thereby forming an
idea of the thing sensed.
 An idea, therefore, is abstract because it focuses only on the nature or
essence it signifies and leaves aside the concrete, sensible characteristics
of that thing.
 An idea is a mental sign whereby we grasp the essence of a thing.
Obviously, it is found in the mind, not in things.
 The mental operation by which we grasp the essence of a thing without yet
making a statement about it is called simple apprehension whose product
is a term.
TERM
 Term is the verbal manifestation of ideas. It is defined as a conventional sign
that is expressive of an idea.
 Definition of a term:
 It is a sign. A term is a sign of ideas in the mind of the person producing them. The
term “table”, for example, is the sign of the idea “table” in my mind.
 It is a conventional sign. A term is a conventional sign since it is a result of a
common agreement among men. We call an object “table” because it is the term
agreed upon by people.
 It is expressive of an idea. Since an idea is abstract, it is made through the use of a
term.
 CONNOTATION AND DENOTATION
 Connotation and Denotation are the logical properties of terms. A term
connotes something when it indicates the meaning of something; it denotes
something if it refers to something.
 Connotation
 Refers to the group of characteristics essential to a term.
 It is also known as intention, signification, or comprehension.
 Denotation
 Is the set of things to which the term refers.
 It is also known as extension.
 The connotation and denotation of a term are inversely proportional. Although
most terms have both connotation and denotation, proper names have only
denotation since they lack connotation expressing attributes to define them.
 Other terms such as “unicorn” and “centaur” have connotation for there are
such attributes, but lack denotation since they are non-existent.
 CLASSIFICATION OF TERMS
 A. According to Comprehension
1. SIMPLE- it expresses only one conceptual note. Examples:
truth- conformity between the intellect and the thing
being- an existential thing
falsity- non-conformity between the intellect and the thing

2. COMPOUND- it expresses more than one conceptual note. Examples:

Man may be expressed as- rational, animal, human being, person or supposit.
God may be expressed as Infinite, Prime Mover, Intelligent Designer or a Uncaused Cause.

3. CONCRETE- it expresses something which has attributes that can be perceived

through the senses. Examples:
Ball, can, desk, shirt, stone, table

4. ABSTRACT-it expresses something as separated from any single object. It is a pure

idea expressed in words. Examples:
Truth, happiness, height, knowledge, perfection
 LIMITATION:
 Our idea of a stone, for instance, is obtained through the exercise of our senses. But
we may abstract its qualities such as hardness, roundness, heaviness, and regard
them as separate from the thing itself. It is likewise important as well as interesting
to note that any idea may be concrete in one sense and abstract in another.
 Claire wears a precious gem. “Gem” is a concrete term. But in this example: Claire
is a gem of the University, the term becomes abstract.
 B. According to Extension
1. SINGULAR- it represents a single object only. Examples:
Thailand, World War II, Cardinal. Gaudencio Rosales, my father, author of Les Miserables , this chair

2. UNIVERSAL- it represents not only a class as a whole but also each member of the
class. Examples:
Table, chair, stone, plant, glass, pen, girl

3. PARTICULAR- it represents only a part of the universal whether it is definite or

indefinite. Examples:
Many books, few guests, some kings, several trees
 4. COLLECTIVE- it represents a number of things constituting a unit-group or
whole. Examples:
Family, choir, band, fleet, team, society

 Note that these ideas indicate aggregate or mass or sum whereas the universal
ideas indicate individual and unrelated units. Thus, choir can be applied to the
singers grouped together, but it cannot be applied to singers taken separately.

 C. According to Origin
1. IMMEDIATE- (intuitive) it is formed through the mediation of other ideas.
Examples:
Chair, whistle, chirping of birds, falling rain, doll

2. MEDIATE- (abstractive) it is formed through the mediation of other ideas.

Examples:
God, human soul, life of Ghandi, philosophy
 D. According to Relation
1. COMPATIBLE- terms that can co-exist in a subject. Examples:
Wise and good, rich and famous, hot and spicy, young and restless

2. INCOMPATIBLE- terms that cannot co-exist in a subject. They exclude each other.
a. Contradictory- terms that mutually exclude each other such that the affirmation of one is the
denial of the other. Between these two terms, there is no third (middle ground). Examples:
Just-unjust, legal-illegal, good-not good, valid-invalid

b. Contrary- terms that express extremes belonging to the same class. Between these two
terms, there is a third (middle) ground. Examples:
Rich-poor, beautiful-ugly, hot-cold, fast-slow

c. Privative- two opposed ideas, one of which expresses perfection, and the other its lack which
ought to be possessed. Examples:
Sight- blindness (With reference to man, blindness is a privation; with reference to a book, however,
it is a mere negation.)

d. Correlative- two opposed terms that bear mutual relation to one another such that one
cannot be understood without the other. They imply each other because one depends on the
other. Examples:
Cause-effect, husband-wife, whole-part, parent-child
 E. According to Meaning
1. UNIVOCAL- a term that carries the same meaning in its several uses. Examples:
Animal when predicated of “dog” and “cat” has exactly the same meaning.

Polygon when predicated of a “triangle” and a “square” has exactly the same meaning.

2. EQUIVOCAL- a term that carries different meanings in its different uses. The
term may be equivocal:
a. Only in pronunciation
Due and dew, soar and sore, reign and rain, ill and eel, peek and peak, hard and heard

b. In pronunciation and spelling

Ground means surface of the earth, or motive, or past tense of grind

Trunk of a tree, of a car, of an elephant, etc.

Hunk means a very large person, a sexually attractive man, a slab, a chunk

3. ANALOGOUS- a term that carries meaning in some ways the same and in other
ways different. Examples:
“God exists;” is different from “Man exists;” for the existence of a God is not the same as the
existence of man; neither is it absolutely different.

“Head” does not have the same meaning in “head of the family” and “head of a man”

Uncomfortable truth, betrayed trust, bad days

 F. According to Quality
1. Positive in form, positive in meaning
Examples: life, justice, truth, freedom

2. Positive in form, negative in meaning

Examples: death, evil, error, sin, cruelty

3. Negative in form, negative in meaning

Examples: illegal, impolite, incompetent, dishonest

4. Negative in form, positive in meaning

Examples: immortal, infinite, blameless, independent

 G. According to Object
1. REAL- it expresses something that has existential actuality, whether positive or
negative. Examples:
Clarity, temperance, scandal, unemployment, chair, table

2. LOGICAL- it is used as a conceptual device to facilitate learning. Examples:

Subject, predicate, classification, division, phyla, genera

3. IMAGINARY- it has no correspondence in reality but is merely a fabrication of the

mind. Examples:
Spider man, Darna, flying carpet, talking tree, Batman, Catwoman