Categorikos

Categorikos is a term used in philosophy and logic to refer to categorical reasoning and statements—those that are asserted unconditionally about all members of a class, as opposed to conditional or relational statements. In traditional (Aristotelian) logic, the central object of study is the categorical proposition, which comes in four standard forms: universal affirmative (All S are P), universal negative (No S are P), particular affirmative (Some S are P), and particular negative (Some S are not P). These propositions combine in syllogisms to yield conclusions about classes of things.

The word is often encountered in Greek-language philosophical texts and, in English scholarship, is usually discussed under the broader term “categorical,” with categorikos appearing as a transliterated form in some discussions of terminology or historical sources. The concept is foundational for understanding Aristotle’s traditional syllogistic, though modern logic largely uses predicate logic, which handles relations and quantification in a more general way.

In Kantian ethics the related idea of a categorical imperative denotes an unconditional command, but this use is distinct from Aristotelian categoricals and is typically described with the English term “categorical” rather than a Greek-derived form.

See also: categorical proposition, categorical syllogism, Aristotelian logic, predicate logic, Kantian ethics.