General Claims:
Chapter 8 discusses the proper use of "general claims", which are claims regarding a broad assertion about a whole or part of something. We can distinguish general claims from each other by looking at a few key words. Some may use the word "all" to refer to "absolutely everything, no exceptions", while some may use the word "some" to refer to "at least one".
There are other indicator words used, such as "only" which describes a specific reasoning method. When "only" is present in a general claim, the easiest way to break it down is to assign a specific code to each part of the claim. For example, the book uses "S" & "P" to label each section. For an only claim, "Only S are P" is meant to be reasonsed as, "All P are S".
For example:
"Only mechanics (S) fix cars (P)". Following the reasoning, we'd see that it means, "Anyone that fixes cars (P) is a mechanic (S)".
Between One and All:
Chapter 8 also discusses generalities using both precise numbers and vague phrases.
When using a precise number, it's easier to see the strength of the argument. For example:
"50% of students will fail Mr. D's Calculus exam. Matt took Mr. D's class. Matt passed the Calculus exam."
This is a weaker argument as there is a 50/50 chance either way of generalizing whether or not Matt passed the Calculus exam. If the percentage or number is very high or very low, such as 97% or 99 people out of 100, the argument becomes much stronger.
When using vague generalities, things become a bit more complicated. We can use a number of different key words or phrases that can be used to specify all or part of a collection without using a number. For example, "All, almost all, some, a lot of, a few, very few" are all key words that vague generalities use.
Vague generalities follow the direct way of reasoning which is:
Almost all S are P
A is S
So A is P
For example:
A lot of students (S) get less than 8 hours of sleep during a school week. (P)
Nicole (A) is a student. (S)
So, Nicole (A) gets less than 8 hours of sleep during a school week. (P)
You did a great job explaining precise numbers and vague phrases. While I did read over this section, I am not as knowledgeable on it because I did not write about it for my post. After reading your examples it seems very clear why an argument would be much more effective if a larger percent of the subject is being argued in favor of. Your example of passing Calculus was very true because if 95 percent of the class passed normally as opposed to 50 percent, it is much more probable that the student in question would pass the class too. Your examples and explanations were very helpful.
ReplyDeleteHey good job on this post. I understand generalities on precise and vague phrases much clearly while reading your post. Your examples are well done. I like your example on precise number. It is tough to use 50% on an argument since there is a 50/50 chance Matt could or could have not passed the calculus exam. It is much stronger if we use numbers that are higher which makes the argument plausible and valid. I also like your example on vague generalities. It is hard to understand an argument if it is not detailed which makes it hard to agree with. Nice post.
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