universal negative

American  

noun

Logic.

1. a proposition of the form “No S is P.” E, e

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Example Sentences

This universal, negative to begin with, has its seat not elsewhere than in thought.

From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 13 — Religion and Philosophy by Hammerton, John Alexander, Sir

When the Agnostic speaks of the "possibility" of miracles, he only means that we cannot prove a universal negative.

From Flowers of Freethought (First Series) by Foote, G. W. (George William)

And, similarly, writing x for 'angels' and y for 'ugly,' we may express E., the universal negative, thus: E. xy = 0.

From Logic Deductive and Inductive by Read, Carveth

And the universal negative "nobody calls on her" is well met by the particular affirmative "I called yesterday."

From A Tangled Tale by Frost, A. B. (Arthur Burdett)

To attempt the complete even in a fractional bit of the cosmos, like a picture, has in it a difficulty akin to the logical one of proving a universal negative.

From The Soul of the Far East by Lowell, Percival