| 10. Consumption |
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| Energy consumption per person in rich
countries has increased by more than 50 times compared with the 18th
century. The daily consumption of an American child is double that
of a European child and 280 times that of a Bengali child. On the
other hand, the fact that the urban areas are growing and becoming
areas of high consumption and zero production means, among other problems,
that large amounts of energy are used in the transport and distribution
of consumer products, as well as in getting rid of the waste that
this irrational consumption produces. |
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Identifying assumptions. Identifying assumptions
consists of detecting what is accepted as true in a statement,
even if it is not expressed. This is a very important mental action
because, among other things, it allows us to discover poorly founded
assumptions and to reason deductively.
There can also be assumptions in questions, orders and exclamations.
For example, if John says, "Mary, this plant is dead. How
long has it been since you watered it?” he is assuming that
Mary has a plant and that plants cannot live without water. |
| Identify what statements A, B, C
and D assume: |
| A. |
This brand of yoghurt must be good because
J. H. does adverts for it, and he’s a great footballer. |
| 1. |
1. If someone is a great footballer, the yoghurt
he does adverts for is good. |
| 2. |
Football players like yoghurt. |
| B. |
If you love your family, always have
Z, your household soap. |
| 1. |
Anyone who loves her or his family uses Z soap. |
| 2. |
Z soap sells well. |
| C. |
If eating is a pleasure, then it can’t
be bad for you. |
| 1. |
There are pleasures that are bad for you. |
| 2. |
No pleasure is bad for you. |
| D. |
To have a good car is to have a good
friend. |
| 1. |
If you haven’t got a car, get a friend. |
| 2. |
Anyone who has a good car has
a good friend. |
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| Think about the last
five things you’ve bought. Think about whether they were really
necessary, if you could have done without them or if you already had
something that would have been a good substitute if you had made better
use of it. |
|
| Exercise. Detect
underlying assumptions, in Wondering at the World, 8.4.1 |
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| © Grup IREF 2003, with the support of the European Commission, DG XXII (Socrates/Comenius 3.2) |
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