Claim
Consequent
Overview
A consequent is the second half of a hypothetical proposition. In the standard form of such a proposition, it is the part that follows "then". In an implication, if P implies Q, then P is called the antecedent and Q is called the consequent. In some contexts, the consequent is called the apodosis.
Examples:
If
P
{\displaystyle P}
, then
Q
{\displaystyle Q}
.
Q
{\displaystyle Q}
is the consequent of this hypothetical proposition.
If
X
{\displaystyle X}
is a mammal, then
X
{\displaystyle X}
is an animal.
Here, "
X
{\displaystyle X}
is an animal" is the consequent.
If computers can think, then they are alive.
"They are alive" is the consequent.
The consequent in a hypothetical proposition is not necessarily a consequence of the antecedent.
If monkeys are purple, then fish speak Klingon.
"Fish speak Klingon" is the consequent here, but intuitively is not a consequence of (nor does it have anything to do with) the claim made in the antecedent that "monkeys are purple".
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
In the original texts
Passages from public-domain books where Consequent is discussed.
Now this makes it absolutely reliable, for in it the consequent is known from the reason, and this is the only kind of knowledge that has necessity; for example, the equality of the sides is known as established by the equality of the angles. All empirical perception, on the other hand, and the greater part of experience, proceeds conversely from the consequent to the reason, and this kind of knowledge is not…
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea
names the idea; states what it is
If some one of the circumstances can be expressed by a number, and this number has in the two cases values very near together, the sense of the phrase 'slightly different' is relatively clear; the principle then signifies that the consequent is a continuous function of the antecedent. And as a practical rule, we reach this conclusion that we have the right to interpolate. This is in fact what scientists do every…
Henri Poincaré, The Foundations of Science
names the idea; states what it is
A proof of this is that the rays of different stars produce different effects according to the diverse natures of bodies. Reply Obj. 1: Since quality is consequent upon substantial form, the mode in which the subject receives a quality differs as the mode differs in which a subject receives a substantial form. For when matter receives its form perfectly, the qualities consequent upon the form are firm and enduring…
Aquinas Thomas, Summa Theologica, Part I
names the idea; opens on it
This is most conveniently expressed in the nomenclature of the medieval logicians. They called the fact expressed by a premise an _antecedent_, and that which follows from it its _consequent_; while the leading principle, that every (or almost every) such antecedent is followed by such a consequent, they termed the _consequence_. Using this language, we may say that probability belongs exclusively to _consequences_…
Charles S. Peirce, Chance, Love, and Logic
names the idea
If the judgement concluded is so contained in the first proposition that it can be deduced from it without the meditation of a third notion, the conclusion is called immediate (consequentia immediata); I prefer the term conclusion of the understanding. But if, in addition to the fundamental cognition, a second judgement is necessary for the production of the conclusion, it is called a conclusion of the reason. In…
Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason
states what it is
Philosophers who discussed Consequent
- Chrysippus
- Peter Abelard
- Walter Burley
- David Lewis (philosopher)
- Ernst Mally
- Philo the Dialectician
- Ivan Orlov (philosopher)
Related ideas
Place in the tradition
Part of Logic translation.