On the Term in General - Ockham

Around 1323

“The conceptual term is an intention or impression of the soul which signifies or consignifies something naturally and is capable of being a part of mental proposition and of suppositing in such a proposition for the thing it signifies. Thus, these conceptual terms and the propositions composed of them are the mental words which, according to St. Augustine in chapter 15 of De Trinitate, belong to no language. They reside in the intellect alone and are incapable of being uttered aloud, although the spoken words which are subordinated to them as signs are uttered aloud.”

William of Ockham (Around 1323). “Ockham’s Theory of Terms”, P.49, University of Notre Dame Press, 1975, Translated by Michael J.Loux

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