Now 'prior' and 'better
known' are ambiguous terms, for there is a difference between what
is prior and better known in the order of being and what is prior
and better known to man. I mean that objects nearer to sense are prior
and better known to man; objects without qualification prior and
better known are those further from sense. Now the most universal
causes are furthest from sense and particular causes are nearest to
sense, and they are thus exactly opposed to one another. In saying
that the premisses of demonstrated knowledge must be primary, I mean
that they must be the 'appropriate' basic truths, for I identify
primary premiss and basic truth. A 'basic truth' in a demonstration is
an immediate proposition. An immediate proposition is one which has no
other proposition prior to it. A proposition is either part of an
enunciation, i.e. it predicates a single attribute of a single
subject. If a proposition is dialectical, it assumes either part
indifferently; if it is demonstrative, it lays down one part to the
definite exclusion of the other because that part is true. The term
'enunciation' denotes either part of a contradiction indifferently.
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