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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 876 |
I came across this phrase in a book I was reading, and it struck me as incorrect: "reexamine his assumptions"
The reason it seems wrong to me is because I see an assumption as a belief acquired without any examination, based on surface observation or information, and inherently unexamined. Therefore, one would need to examine the assumptions, after which any belief retained would no longer be an assumption. For some reason I can't come up with the term for this type of phrase, so feel free to let me know about that, too! :0)
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
I'm not sure that it is correct to assume that "assumptions" are "beliefs acquired without examination."
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I'm with FF, here. It might depend on what you mean by "examine", too. We can make the assumption that most of the people who work out at the local gym are under 30 just based on what we think about people who work out at gyms without having any experience, then, yes, the assumption is probably something that has never been examined, but, if we have gone to the gym ourselves and tend to see mostly people that look relatively young then the assumption has some basis other than pure guesswork. If you want to call that "examined" then the assumption can be re-examined if we discover that at times we don't normally go to the gym there are a lot of elderly people.
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
Whilst I agree it is true 'assumption' does implies a priori beliefs, I'm not sure the phrase is incorrect, as its meaning is perfectly clear, namely to revisit one's logical bases for something. Rhetorically, it also flows better than just "examine his assumptions."
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