On empty terms: Aristotle and Parmenides

In the paper, we compare Aristotle’s and Parmenides’s views regarding the semantic aspects of logic. In Chapter 10 of Categories Aristotle outlines his logical and semantic conception according to which all affirmative propositions with empty subject terms are false whereas all such negatives are true. The laws of non-contradiction and of identity do not apply to them by virtue of this. Contrary to Aristotle’s conception, Parmenides in his poem On nature insists that since there are no empty terms no complication concerning the laws of logic arises in his approach.