Chapter 8

In Chapter 8, the Epstein handbook talks about a fundamental concept called General Claims in which a statement based on a topic can be true or false. Like many of the topics that Epstein introduces these can be found daily in our lives without knowing. An example of a general claim is all burger king sell chicken nuggets. While this statement is most likely to be true, it has the possibility to be false. However, in an argument we would then support our claim without reasons why they would most likely sell chicken nuggets. As the chapter progresses, it talks about word choice while making these general claims. For instance, like the example that I mentioned earlier I used the word “all” to describe the claim. A person can easily argue that “all” burger kings do not sell chicken nuggets. We can make our general claim better by using words such as “some” or “most of” to make a better claim.