Oppsition Construct

[boer0140@umn.edu]

Can someone please link me to an explanation of the Opposition Construct please?

I'm doing the L3 Homework in the On-Demand course and it's the very first thing to do in the additional reading packet, but I don't think I've seen the OC anywhere yet. Thank you!

[boer0140@umn.edu]

I found some places it's mentioned! Turns out it's just Logical Opposites, or "The 4 Logical Possibilities."

• viewtopic.php?t=2405
  viewtopic.php?t=11896
  viewtopic.php?t=34955
  viewtopic.php?t=3704

[Robert Carroll]

boer0140,

The Opposition Construct is introduced in Lesson 2, on page 2-3. It's all about how "true" something can be. In general, things can always be true, always be false, or be somewhere in between (sometimes true and sometimes false). The elements of the Opposition Construct map onto those truth possibilities as follows:

Must Be True: This includes things that are always true and nothing else.

Not Necessarily True: This is the logical opposite of "Must Be True". It therefore covers everything that "Must Be True" doesn't. Note that that can be tricky! If something is always false, it certainly doesn't have to be true. Therefore, it's within the category of "Not Necessarily True"! The category "Not Necessarily True" includes both the inbetween (sometimes true, sometimes false) things AND the things that are always false.

Could Be True: This can be tricky as well. It covers the inbetween things (sometimes true, sometimes false) but, importantly, also covers the things that are always true! If something has to happen (so "Must Be True"), it certainly must be possible in order to be necessary...and therefore things that are always true Could Be True!

Cannot Be True: As the logical opposite of "Could Be True", this just covers the things that are always false.

Hope this helped!

Robert Carroll