Lewis Carroll

The Game of Logic Lewis Carroll

"Some new Cakes are nice." "No new Cakes are nice." "All new cakes are nice." There are three 'PROPOSITIONS' for you--the only three kinds we are going to use in this Game: and the first thing to be done is to learn how to express them on the Board. Let us begin with "Some new Cakes are nice." But before doing so, a remark has to be made--one that is rather important, and by no means easy to understand all in a moment: so please to read this VERY carefully. The world contains many THINGS (such as "Buns", "Babies", "Beetles". "Battledores". &c.); and these Things possess many ATTRIBUTES (such as "baked", "beautiful", "black", "broken", &c.: in fact, whatever can be "attributed to", that is "said to belong to", any Thing, is an Attribute). Whenever we wish to mention a Thing, we use a SUBSTANTIVE: when we wish to mention an Attribute, we use an ADJECTIVE. People have asked the question "Can a Thing exist without any Attributes belonging to it?" It is a very puzzling question, and I'm not going to try to answer it: let us turn up our noses, and treat it with contemptuous silence, as if it really wasn't worth noticing. But, if they put it the other way, and ask "Can an Attribute exist without any Thing for it to belong to?