Again in Chapter 8, I find that Vague Generalities is pretty interesting. It kind of goes in line with what I talked about earlier this week with General Claims and their Contradictories. A lot of times people do argue with vague words. Words like all, almost, most, few and some come up. These words are considered as numbers, but without exactly giving out a real number. Since these words do not give us a precise number in the argument, the argument will be invalid because it is too vague to be used in a claim. By not having a precise number it does not give a lot of credibility to the argument. It is hard to prove that a claim with “all” and “some” to be true. “Almost all” is another version of “all” which has a very weak reasoning. It might be easier to put words like “all”, “some” and “few” in an argument to make a point, but it would not be strong. So next time you argue with someone make sure your argument is precise to its last detail and you will have a good, strong, and valid claim.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Week 9: D3
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteI also wrote about vague generalities. I feel that it is an important topic that should be covered in class. Sentences and conversations can be vague majority of the time, but it's our job to be able to elaborate more into it. It's fun that there is vague discussions because it helps us to keep asking questions and guess if there is an answer. Also, it helps us get a good feel for a writer. For instance, If the writer can discuss topics easily the first time. Then the writer avoids being vague and has the ability to write a well written descriptions or instructions.