In Aristotelian logic, universal premises imply existence of the subject.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. They imply existence of the subject only if a term exists
• D. They imply existence of both subject and predicate

Answer: (A)

In Aristotelian logic, universal premises carry existential import: they are about all members of the subject class and presuppose that there is at least something in that class. Saying “All S are P” commits you to there being some S, because the statement is about every member of S. If S had no members, there would be nothing to say about being all S, so the premise wouldn’t fit the traditional system. Therefore, universal premises imply existence of the subject (the subject term denotes something real). The existential import applies specifically to the subject term, not necessarily to the predicate.