When taking a glance at general claims they can be easily considered valid. This is because vague words are usually used which might make a claim actually false when you believe it is true. Some of the vague words that might be used are: all, some, a lot of, a few, very few, and almost all. When words such as all and some are used correctly they make general claims valid, well they obviously won't be valid if the claim if not true. According to Epstein all means" Every single one, no exception," and some means "At least one."
Example of a valid form, using all:
All SAT exams are created by the SAT committee. They are created similarly with the same concepts. So all the exams test the same concepts. Valid
Example of an invalid form, using some:
Some birds can fly. Chickens are considered birds. So chickens can fly. Invalid because chickens can't fly
General claims also have contradictories. There are many different ways to use those words and also the opposite of them
Example:
Claim- All vegans eat vegetable.
Contradictory- Some vegans don't eat vegetables.
Valid claims that involve vague words are definitely not always clear. I can see how some claims that use vague words may actually make the claim false. The example of chickens being considered birds and not being able to fly demonstrates perfectly how an invalid form is constructed, and how the claim is considered to be false.
ReplyDeleteContradictories in general claims seem to occur quite frequently in every day language. This is a simple concept that is merely like you wrote above, the direct opposite of a claim. I agree that these are some concepts that could use further discussion.
I like your entry about general claims in your blog. The use of vague words make claims really weak in opposed to having strong arguments. But some of the vague words do strengthen a person’s argument. Your examples proved that point. Using the words all or some really do affect the strength of a person’s argument. Your first example proved that there is no way it could be wrong using the word all. Your second example proved to be wrong because of the use of the word some. Your general claims were good examples too because seeing the difference between two claims that contradict each other.
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