Only a minority of those who engage in political action do so out of a sense of social justice. Therefore, some peopl...
BatmanOctober 15, 2013
You have taught that "Only" indicates necessary condition, right?
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"?
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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
MehranOctober 15, 2013
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.
BatmanOctober 15, 2013
Many thanks, always.
SamiJuly 23, 2015
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.
NazJuly 31, 2015
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.
