Philosophy

The twenty-eighth entry is la proposition normative, and the noun carrying it does three jobs at once that English hands to three different words. First, the one wanted here: une proposition is what a logician calls a proposition, a thing that is either true or false, so une proposition normative says what ought to be and une proposition descriptive says what is. Second, an offer: je vous fais une proposition is a proposal, and elle a décliné notre proposition says an offer was turned down. Third, and here English has nothing at all, a grammatical clause: une proposition subordonnée is a subordinate clause, and that is where a French schoolchild meets the word first. English meanwhile went off on its own. « A business proposition », « a tricky proposition » and « not a paying proposition » all name an undertaking rather than a statement, and none of the three can be said with proposition. So the entry is a normative statement and never a normative proposal. One asserts, the other asks for an answer.