In chapter eight the first concept I learned about general claims is general claims and their contradictories. The book discusses that people need “to know how to reason using general claims that assert something in a general way about all or a part of a collection.” Some arguments that are made may sound valid but they are not because the words “all” and “some” have various meanings. The book states that “all” means “every single one, no exceptions” and sometimes can mean “every single one, and there is at least one.” The word “some” is defined as “at least one” and sometimes can be defined as “at least one, but not all.”
An example: A contradictory for, “Some cats can swim” is “No cat can swim” or “Not even one cat can swim.”
A second concept that I learned was vague generalities, and that most do not fit into good arguments or claims. In order to recognize if an argument is valid or not, we need to take the look at the words “all” and “some”. The rest of the words that are in the sentence with “all” or “some” are too vague to determine if the argument is valid.
An example: “Almost all teenagers listen to rock music.” – A lot of teenagers listen to rock music or many teenagers listen to rock music.
Hi Cali Gurl! I agree with your post, and it also clarified some highlights in Chapter 8 for me. When reading about the true meaning behind the words “all” and “some,” I realized how often I say these words but don’t actually mean the literal translation. I can say “I hope some of them come,” but in reality, that does not communicate a clear image to who you are speaking to. “Some” can be a select few, a little bit, or the majority. The same principle applies to the word “all.” Sometimes I’ll say “all” but really mean to say “the majority.”
ReplyDeleteHi I liked your post about chapter 8. I like how you explained everything the way you did. If someone did not understand something reading your post would really help. I thought chapter 8 was good because it showed you the meaning behind some of the words we use in everyday language. I realized how much I use all and some and use them in the wrong meaning. This is something that people do not even think about it when they are using it. After reading chapter 8 I am going to start thinking about the way I use all and some. I also like the examples you gave of each. They were good.
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