categoricaladj.n.
/katɪˈɡɒrɪkəl/ A. adj.
1.
a. Logic. Of a proposition: Asserting absolutely or positively; not involving a condition or hypothesis; unqualified. categorical syllogism n. one consisting of categorical propositions.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > [adjective] > conditional or hypothetical > categorical or not conditional
categorical1598
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Categorico, categoricall, predicable.
1616 J. Bullokar Eng. Expositor Categoricall Axiome, a simple axiome or proposition, not compounded of any coniunction.
1638 D. Featley Transubstant. Exploded 88 Of our simple categoricall proposition, there can bee but one true sense.
1725 I. Watts Logick iii. ii. 449 Most..[conjunctive Syllogisms] may be transformed into categorical Syllogisms.
1827 R. Whately Logic in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) 206/1 The division of Propositions according to their substance; viz. into categorical and hypothetical.
a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1860) III. xvi. 294 As used originally by Aristotle, the term categorical meant merely affirmative, and was opposed to negative. By Theophrastus it was employed in the sense of absolute..opposed to conditional; and in this signification it has continued to be employed by all subsequent logicians.
b. gen. Of a statement (or him who makes it): Direct, explicit, express, unconditional.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > dogmatic assertion > [adjective]
peremptory1575
categoricala1620
pronunciative1619
affirmative1650
thetical1653
categoric1678
round1701
plonking1950
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > absence of doubt, confidence > assured fact, certainty > [adjective] > defined, well-formed > of statement or speaker
utter1472
absolute?1504
peremptory1532
perfect1569
resolved1577
confident1611
categoricala1620
definitive1624
textuary1632
categorematical1654
categoric1678
a1620 M. Fotherby Atheomastix (1622) i. ix. §1. 59 A simple and categoricall denying of it.
1657 O. Cromwell Speech 3 Apr. You do necessitate my answer to be categorical.
1696 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) IV. 83 On condition he give his categorical answer by the 18th instant.
1778 F. Burney Let. Sept. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 116 I could never persuade her to be categorical.
1855 J. L. Motley Rise Dutch Republic III. v. i. 169 The ratification of the Ghent treaty..was in no wise distinct and categorical, but was made dependent on a crowd of deceitful subterfuges.
c. categorical imperative n. in the ethics of Kant, the absolute unconditional command of the moral law, a law given by the pure reason, and binding universally on every rational will.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > necessity > [noun] > absolute compulsion or obligation > action necessary in itself
categorical imperative1796
society > morality > duty or obligation > moral or legal constraint > [noun] > absolutely binding moral law
categorical imperative1796
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > idealism > [noun] > Kantianism > elements of
conception1701
schematism1794
categorical imperative1796
intuition1796
matter1796
receptivity1796
schema1796
dialectic1797
multifarious1798
reciprocity1799
form1803
synthesis1817
Anschauung1820
manifold?1822
category1829
modality1836
multiplex1836
predicable1838
multiple1839
multiplicity1839
presentmenta1842
elanguescence1855
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > moral philosophy > [noun] > imperativism and its adherents > in Kant
categorical imperative1796
1796 F. A. Nitsch Gen. View Kant's Princ. conc. Man 195 An Imperative..which is founded upon reason itself..is a Categorical Imperative which represents an action as necessary in itself.
1827 J. C. Hare & A. W. Hare Guesses at Truth (1873) 2nd Ser. 337 [Kant] spun a new [system of ethics]..out of his categorical imperative.
1856 P. E. Dove Logic Christian Faith ii. §2. 117 The categorical imperative of conscience.
1871 F. W. Farrar Witness of Hist. iv. 161 ‘The Categorical imperative’ (Duty, Conscience, Thou must).
1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 29 Oct. 2/2 The practical importance of the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ has always seemed to me to lie in the fact that it invests His teaching with the authority of the Categorical Imperative.
2. Logic. Of or belonging to the categories.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > ancient Greek philosophy > [adjective] > Aristotelian > of elements of Aristotelianism
predicamentalc1600
transcendental1668
transcendent1706
third-man argument1801
categorical1817
prioristic1890
1817 S. T. Coleridge Biogr. Lit. 66 [It] will apply..to all the other eleven categorical forms.
B. n.
A categorical proposition or syllogism.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > logical proposition > [noun] > conditional or hypothetical proposition > categorical proposition
categorical1619
categoric1677
1619 W. Sclater Expos. 1 Thess. (1630) 439 Reduce thy Hypothesis to a Categoricall; thus lies thy Proposition.
1827 R. Whately Elem. Logic ii. iv. §2 A hypothetical proposition is defined to be two or more categoricals united by a copula.
a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1860) III. xvi. 303 The proximate canons by which Deductive Categoricals are regulated.
Derivatives
cateˈgoricalness n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > absence of doubt, confidence > assured fact, certainty > [noun] > state of being definite
categoricalness1672
definiteness1727
definitiveness1727
1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 58 To find out the reason of his own Categoricalness.
1672 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i. 192 The word of Mr. Bayes's that he has made notorious is categoricalness.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1598