LessonsSemantic Fallacies: Defects of Matter, Form, and PredicationQuiz

الساكت متكلم، والمتكلم ليس بساكت
A silent person is a speaker, and a speaker is not silent.

The first “speaker” may mean someone able to speak, while the second means someone currently speaking. Equating them yields the absurd conclusion that a silent person is not silent.

The remedy is to distinguish the two predicates explicitly: “A silent person may be capable of speech,” and “A person speaking at this moment is not silent at that moment.” Both may be true because they concern different respects.

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Silent and speaking: the source example

Semantic Fallacies: Defects of Matter, Form, and Predication

الساكت متكلم، والمتكلم ليس بساكت
A silent person is a speaker, and a speaker is not silent.

The first “speaker” may mean someone able to speak, while the second means someone currently speaking. Equating them yields the absurd conclusion that a silent person is not silent.

The remedy is to distinguish the two predicates explicitly: “A silent person may be capable of speech,” and “A person speaking at this moment is not silent at that moment.” Both may be true because they concern different respects.