Physics 169
another: the thing signified, the signifier, and the object. 12. Of these,
the signifier is the utterance, for example, "Dion"; the thing signified is
the thing indicated by the utterance and which we grasp when it subsists
in our intellect and which foreigners do not understand although they
hear the utterance; the object is the external existent, for example, Dion
himself. Two of these are bodies, the utterance and the object, and one
incorporeal, the signified thing, i.e., the thing said [lekton] which is true
or false. This last point is not of unrestricted application, but some lekta
are incomplete and some complete. One kind of complete lekton is the
so-called proposition, which they describe thus: a proposition is that
which is true or false.Sextus M 8.70 (SVF 2.187) [11-41]
They say that what subsists in accordance with a rational presentation
is a thing said [lekton] and that a rational presentation is one according
to which the content of a presentation can be made available to reason.Ammonius Comm. on Aristotle's De
Interpretatione 16a3 CIAG 4.5 pp. 17.24-28
(SVF 2.168)
[11-42]Here [De Interpretatione] Aristotle teaches what is primarily and imme-
diately signified by utterances, saying that it is thoughts, and that through
these as intermediaries, objects are signified. And we need think of nothing
beyond these which is between the thought and the object. But the Stoics
hypothesized that such a thing exists and thought it should be called a
"thing said".Stobaeus Anthology 1.13.1c, vol. 1
p. 138.14-22 W-H (SVF 1.89)[11-43]Zeno says that a cause is "that because of which". That of which it
is the cause is an event [or accident]. And the cause is a body and that
of which it is the cause is a predicate. It is impossible for the cause to
be present and that of which it is the cause not to be the case. What is
said amounts to this: a cause is that because of which something comes
about, for example, prudent thinking occurs because of prudence, living
because of soul, and temperate behaviour because of temperance. For if
someone has temperance or soul or prudence it is impossible for there
not to be temperate behaviour, life, or prudent thinking.