subcontrary

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sub·con·trar·y

 (sŭb-kŏn′trĕr′ē)
n. pl. sub·con·tra·ries Logic
A proposition related to another in such a way that both may be true, but both cannot be false.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

subcontrary

(sʌbˈkɒntrərɪ) logic
adj
(Logic) (of a pair of propositions) related such that they cannot both be false at once, although they may be true together. Compare contrary5, contradictory3
n, pl -ries
(Logic) a statement that cannot be false when a given statement is false
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

sub•con•tra•ry

(sʌbˈkɒn trɛr i)

n., pl. -ries.
one of two propositions in logic that can both be true but cannot both be false.
[1595–1605; < Medieval Latin subcontrārius]
sub`con•tra•ri′e•ty (-trəˈraɪ ɪ ti) n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
Two opposed propositions observe the principle of the exclusion of the co-truth of the contraries if they cannot be simultaneously true but they can be simultaneously false, thus satisfying the function of anticonjunction: D[T.sub.p][T.sub.q] = [F.sub.Dpq]; the principle of the exclusion of the subcontrary co-falsity if they cannot be false simultaneously and from the same point of view, but they can be simultaneously true, thus satisfying the disjunction matrix: A[F.sub.p] [F.sub.q] = [F.sub.Apq]; the principle of the exclusion of the co-valency of the contradictories if they can simultaneously be neither true, nor false, and therefore they meet the requirements of the strong disjunction: J[T.sub.p][T.sub.q] = J[F.sub.p][F.sub.q] = [F.sub.Jpq].
As prescriptions, logical principles determine the value or the result of an operation; the reunion of two contradictory notions is exhaustive (it coincides with the universe of discourse); the conjunction of contraries cannot be a true sentence, the intersection of two subcontrary notions cannot be an empty set; the conjunction of two contrarily-subcontrary propositions is (a) false (sentence); etc.
The contradiction between the statements "the soul is mortal" and "the soul outlives the body" will be read as a contrary opposition in the stated order, and as subcontrary opposition in the reversed order.
Two generic, or truth-fluctuating, propositions, now true, now false, seem to us compatible with one of the following relationships: interference (the weakest conditioning, neither necessary nor sufficient); subalternation (the sufficiently-necessary conditioning); superalternation (the necessarily-sufficient conditioning); equivalence (the necessary and sufficient conditioning); nonrelationality (the weakest opposition, neither contrary nor subcontrary); contrariety (the contrarily-contrary opposition); subcontrariety (the subcontrarily-subcontrary opposition); contradiction (the contrary and subcontrary opposition).
The terms contrary, subcontrary, necessary, sufficient qualify the alethic circuit between the correlated sentences, respectively the transition from true to false, from false to true, from false to false and from true to true.
Finally, just as "S must be P" cannot coexist with its contrary, "S cannot be P," but "S may be P" can coexist with its subcontrary, "S may not be P," so "I must do X" cannot coexist with its contrary, "I cannot do X"; but "I may do X" can coexist with its subcontrary, "I do not have to do X."
Formulas 4 and 5 are not contradictory either; they are subcontrary. Arminius, however, seems to have read the two complete sequences as mutually exclusive.
The two lowermost cornerpoints form subcontrary pairs; they can both be true, but not both be false.
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