ABSTRACT
In Analysis for December 1965 Miss Anscombe says: What signally distinguishes names from expressions for predicates is that expressions for predicates can be negated, names not. This chapter begins with a little obliquely by considering a possible objection to the asymmetry thesis, an objection which would rightly be held by upholders of the thesis to miss its point altogether. Asymmetry regarding negation carries with it as a consequence a certain asymmetry regarding composition. In symmetrical style, of the particular individual and the general character or kind being present as assigned to each other because asymmetries of direction of fit do not concern. The chapter argues that, given our choice of a certain class of propositions and given our appropriations of the expression 'subject' and 'predicate' in relation to propositions of that class. Suppose it granted that the general criterion, or definition, of subject and predicate contains the underlying ground of the originally alleged asymmetries regarding negation and composition.
