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Empty class

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Original Question

In the Existential Fallacy, I do not understand what is meant by an empty class. What is meant by an empty class ? Where is the empty class in the examples given ?

Answers

1

Example #2:


All forest creatures live in the woods.


All leprechauns are forest creatures.


Therefore, some leprechauns live in the woods.


The class "leprechauns" is empty, because there are no such thing as leprechauns. In other words, there are no leprechauns. Yet the conclusion states that "some leprechauns live in the woods" which cannot possibly be true if it is true that no leprechauns exist (that is, "leprechauns" is an empty set).

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