1378. Concerning logicians

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Logicians generally agree that existential statements can be true only contingently rather than necessarily. But this, too, needs further distinction, refinement, qualification—to the effect, namely, that only existential statements on the lower logical levels, i.e., those mentioning definite particulars or (more or less) special qualities of particulars, are contingently true. By contrast, existential statements on the highest logical level, i.e., those that do not mention definite particulars or (more or less) special qualities of particulars, are not contingently true, but necessarily true, or true a priori.

March 1998