A.

) Square of opposition is a diagram representing the relations between the four basic categorical
propositions. The origin of the square can be traced back to Aristotle making the distinction
between two oppositions: contradiction and contrariety. But Aristotle did not draw any diagram.
This was done several centuries later by Apuleius and Boethius.

Every categorical proposition can be reduced to one of four logical forms. These are:

• The so-called 'A' proposition, the universal affirmative (universalis affirmativa), whose form in Latin
is 'omne S est P', usually translated as 'every S is a P'.

• The 'E' proposition, the universal negative (universalis negativa), Latin form 'nullum S est P', usually
translated as 'no S are P'.

• The 'I' proposition, the particular affirmative (particularis affirmativa), Latin 'quoddam S est P',
usually translated as 'some S are P'.

• The 'O' proposition, the particular negative (particularis negativa), Latin 'quoddam S non est P',
usually translated as 'some S are not P'.

*While the standard form "No S is P" is unambiguous, the form "All S is not P" is ambiguous and so is
not a standard form: because it can be either an E or O proposition, it requires a context to
determine the form.

B.) Contradictories
A pair of affirmative and negative statements which are callled 'contradiction' (in medieval Latin,
contradictio). Aristotle states that to every affirmation there corresponds exactly one negation, and
that every affirmation and its negation are 'opposed' such that always one of them must be true,
and the other false. Examples of contradictories are 'every man is white' and 'not every man is
white' (also read as 'some men are not white'), 'no man is white' and 'some man is white'.

C.) Contraries
(medieval: contrariae) are such that both cannot at the same time be true. Examples of these are
the universal affirmative 'every man is white', and the universal negative 'no man is white'. These
cannot be true at the same time. However, these are not contradictories because both of them may
be false. For example, it is false that every man is white, since some men are not white. Yet it is also
false that no man is white, since there are some white men.

D.) Sub-contraries
Since every statement has a contradictory opposite, and since a contradictory is true when its
opposite is false, it follows that the opposites of contraries (which the medievals called
subcontraries, subcontrariae) can both be true, but they cannot both be false. Since subcontraries
are negations of universal statements, they were called 'particular' statements by the medieval
logicians.
E.) Sub-alternates
The truth of the first ("the superaltern") implies the truth of the second ("the subaltern"), but not
conversely. For example, the truth of the proposition "all plastics are synthetic," implies the truth of
the proposition "some plastics are synthetic." However, the truth of the proposition "some cars are
not American-made products" does not imply the truth of the proposition "no cars are American-
made products."