Apodicticity

"Apodictic", also spelled "apodeictic" (Ancient Greek: ἀποδεικτικός, "capable of demonstration"), is an adjectival expression from Aristotelean logic that refers to propositions that are demonstrably, necessarily or self-evidently true.^[1] Apodicticity or apodixis is the corresponding abstract noun, referring to logical certainty.

Apodictic propositions contrast with assertoric propositions, which merely assert that something is (or is not) true, and with problematic propositions, which assert only the possibility of something's being true. Apodictic judgments are clearly provable or logically certain. For instance, "Two plus two equals four" is apodictic, because it is true by definition. "Things fall" is also apodictic, because it is easily demonstrated and obvious to the listener. "Chicago is larger than Omaha" is assertoric. "A corporation could be wealthier than a country" is problematic. In Aristotelian logic, "apodictic" is opposed to "dialectic", as scientific proof is opposed to philosophical reasoning. Kant contrasted "apodictic" with "problematic" and "assertoric" in the Critique of Pure Reason, on page A70/B95.^[2]

Apodictic a priorism[]

Hans Reichenbach, one of the founders of logical positivism, offered a modified version of Immanuel Kant's a priorism by distinguishing between apodictic a priorism and constitutive a priorism.^[3]

References[]

^ Dictionary definitions of apodictic, from dictionary.com, including material from the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Random House, Inc. (2006), The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company, and WordNet 3.0, Princeton University 2006.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Apodictic" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 183.
^ Mormann, Thomas (2012). Creath, Richard (ed.). Toward a Theory of the Pragmatic A Priori: From Carnap to Lewis and Beyond. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 16 (2012. ed.). Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media. p. 116. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-3929-1_7. ISBN 978-94-007-3928-4. Retrieved 7 March 2016.

Antony Flew. A Dictionary of Philosophy - Revised Second Edition. St. Martin's Press, NY, 1979

External links[]

The dictionary definition of apodictic at Wiktionary

[1] Dictionary definitions of apodictic, from dictionary.com, including material from the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Random House, Inc. (2006), The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company, and WordNet 3.0, Princeton University 2006.

[EB1911-2] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Apodictic" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 183.

[Mormann-3] Mormann, Thomas (2012). Creath, Richard (ed.). Toward a Theory of the Pragmatic A Priori: From Carnap to Lewis and Beyond. Vienna Circle Institute Yearbook 16 (2012. ed.). Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media. p. 116. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-3929-1_7. ISBN 978-94-007-3928-4. Retrieved 7 March 2016.

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