Question #1583

You have taught that "Only" indicates necessary condition, right?

Started by Batman · started 2013-10-15 06:22 · last activity 2015-07-31 00:16 · 5 replies

It is almost impossible to imagine that if I faced "Only a minority of those who engage in political action do so out of a sense of social justice" on the exam, I would spontaneously think it means "a majority of those....do not so out of a sense of social justice" rather than think that "only" indicates necessary condition and it's logical drawing is like " SSJ ====> minority of those engaged in PA" within 1 minute 50 seconds. And shouldn't it be " EPA ===most===> not SSJ" rather than directly fall into "EPA===some===> not SSJ"? according to your explanation? because opposite meanings of a minority is "a majority of those who EPA do not so out of SSJ" (1) EPA====most====>not SSJ (2) EPA<===some====> not SSJ How can test takers convert "Only a minority... 'to " A majority of...NOt" rather give up sticking to the concept that "only" indicates "necessary condition"?

Replies

  1. Batman · 2013-10-15 07:13

    In short, please help me out to figure out what situation or condition I need to drop off the necessary concept of "only" and covert the sentence including "only" into a negative sentence

  2. Mehran · 2013-10-15 16:57

    I wouldn't worry too much since this is the point of practicing. Now that you have seen us treat "only a minority X" as a "majority do not X," you will probably have no trouble making this jump the next time. As for the word "only," make sure it is a general principle before diagramming. By definition, "only a minority" would mean "some," which is clearly not sufficient and necessary terminology, so you would not try to diagram this. Lastly, we can reverse both of our quantifier statements as follows: EPA - some - SSJ SSJ -some - EPA EPA - most - not SSJ not SSJ - some- EPA Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

  3. Batman · 2013-10-15 22:42

    Many thanks, always.

  4. Sami · 2015-07-23 17:13

    Shouldn't the conclusion of the argument be diagrammed as SSJ-some- not EPA some people who have a sense of social justice do not engage in political action.

  5. Naz · 2015-07-31 00:16

    Yes that is how the conclusion should be diagrammed, but the above thread was referring to the the premise and not the conclusion. Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.

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