Wāqiʿ (reality) is not restricted to an object presently visible to the observer. It is the relevant state of affairs against which the reported proposition is evaluated.
“Zayd is standing” affirms a state; “Zayd is not standing” denies it. Either may be true or false depending on the actual situation. The grammatical polarity of a sentence does not determine its truth value. The shared criterion remains correspondence with what obtains.
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Truth and Falsehood in Reports: The Majority, al-Naẓẓām and al-Jāḥiẓ
Wāqiʿ (reality) is not restricted to an object presently visible to the observer. It is the relevant state of affairs against which the reported proposition is evaluated.
“Zayd is standing” affirms a state; “Zayd is not standing” denies it. Either may be true or false depending on the actual situation. The grammatical polarity of a sentence does not determine its truth value. The shared criterion remains correspondence with what obtains.