A good instance is furnished by any sincere promise, such as a promise to a child, in the form: “If you do that I will reward you.” The promise relates to the valid Being of the future. It asserts that this future, when it comes to be present, shall not contain the event of the child’s doing that work unrewarded by the giver of the promise. So, then, hypothetical judgments tell us that some ideally defined object, often of very complex structure, finds no place in Being. Even the fantastic examples of the wishes and the bowl involve the same sort of assertion, true or false, as to a real world.
The judgments of simple assertion, the categorical judgments, are of the two general classes, the “Universal” and the “Particular” judgments, namely those, respectively, that speak of all things of a class and those that only tell about some things. But here, again, it would seem, at first, as if an universal judgment might concern itself wholly with ideal objects. When a contract is made, universal judgments are, in general, used. “All the property” of a given sort, if ever it comes to exist, is by the terms of the contract “to be delivered,” perhaps, to such and such a person. “All payments” under the contract “are to be made,” thus and thus. But, perhaps, if ever the contract comes later to be adjudicated, it may be found that no property of the sort in question has ever come into existence, or has ever been delivered at all; and then it may be decided that, by the very terms of the contract, and just by virtue of its legal validity, no obligation exists to make any of the mentioned payments. So all contracts concerning future work, delivery, or compensation are, on their face, about
