Why do singular propositions have a universal quantity?
Singular propositions like Amy is woman.
Why do we treat them as if they referred to classes of things?
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1In origin, Syllogism was defined for Categorical proposition i.e. for proposition like "All men are mortal" withe "term" class. – Mauro ALLEGRANZA Jun 30 '17 at 11:21
In origin, sllogism was defined with categorical proposition i.e. for proposition like "All men are mortal" with class terms.
The extension to singular terms can be managed considering the "singleton" formed by the class containing the single individual: Socrates.
In this way, we can translate "Socrates is a man" as "Every member of the class containing only Socrates is a man".