(C may quite well be so related to A and B that C is neither
subordinate to A nor a universal attribute of B: for B, since A was
said to be primarily disconnected from B, cannot have a genus, and A
need not necessarily be a universal attribute of all things.
Consequently both premisses may be false.) On the other hand, (b)
one of the premisses may be true, though not either indifferently
but only the major A-C since, B having no genus, the premiss C-B
will always be false, while A-C may be true. This is the case if,
for example, A is related atomically to both C and B; because when the
same term is related atomically to more terms than one, neither of
those terms will belong to the other. It is, of course, equally the
case if A-C is not atomic.
Error of attribution, then, occurs through these causes and in
this form only-for we found that no syllogism of universal attribution
was possible in any figure but the first. On the other hand, an
error of non-attribution may occur either in the first or in the
second figure. Let us therefore first explain the various forms it
takes in the first figure and the character of the premisses in each
case.
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