Judgment

Differences from Propositions

• Content vs Act

  • Proposition (Content): A proposition is the objective meaning or information contained in a sentence. It is a claim about the world that can be either true or false, but it doesn't necessarily "care" which one it is. It is like a "thought" that exists independently of whether someone believes it.
  • Judgment (Act): A judgment is the mental act of affirming or denying that a proposition is true. It is the step you take when you look at a proposition and decide to "stamp" it as true or false.

• Metalanguage vs. object Language In modern logic, this is often explained using "levels" of language:

  • Propositions belong to the Object language (the stuff we are talking about), like $A \lor B$.

  • Judgments belong to the Metalanguage (the language we use to talk about the logic).

    Example: If "It is raining" is the proposition, then saying "It is true that 'It is raining'" is the judgment.