Negating Statements

[jgray]

Greetings,
I'm having issues with negating statements. I understand logical negation, but still confused with what I am negating. Should I negate the sufficient or the necessary conditions, negate the quantity indicator, both, or another option?
Thanks.

[Adam Tyson]

Negating contenders on assumption questions presents problems for many students, jgray. Sometimes it's easy and obvious - to negate "Some people prefer chocolate to vanilla", just say "No people prefer chocolate to vanilla". That's logical opposition at its simplest. Same with something like "Astronauts have problems with distorted vision upon returning to normal gravity after extended periods in space", which is negated as "Astronauts do not have problems with distorted vision upon returning to normal gravity after extended periods in space".

When it gets tricky is when the answers get more complicated. Remember that the goal of negating an answer choice is to make the statement false, and then to see if that new, falsified statement wrecks the argument. If it does not - if it merely weakens or has no effect, or if it strengthens the argument, then the answer choice was not an assumption of the argument. If the negated statement does wreck the argument, you have found your assumption answer.

Because the negation technique is all about making the answer choice false, there's a sort of trick you can use when you aren't sure how to properly negate an answer choice. At the beginning of the answer, insert the words "It is not true that...". Faced with a complex answer choice like "Even when some people choose to vote for a candidate that is not a member of their own party, the vast majority of those voters remain loyal to their party when selecting candidates for other races in the same election cycle", you could negate it just by saying "It is not true that when some people etc."

There are other ways to negate that statement, but the technical aspects of negation aren't the real issue, and there aren't a lot of "one size fits all" rules for negating every complex claim. Find a way to make the entire claim false (rather than focusing on making some portion of it false, or on turning all the not-statements into yes-statements, or on worrying about whether to deal with the sufficient or the necessary or the cause or the effect, and so on).

If you have any specific examples that are giving you trouble, first try the "it is not true that" approach. Then, if you want further clarification and help, come back here and share one or two and we'll see what we can do for you.

Good luck, see you back here soon!

[jgray]

OK, thank you. Will try the, "Its not true that..." bit, and then move on to negating. I appreciate the help.
cheers.