Saturday, September 4, 2010
Prescriptive and Descriptive Claims
Prescriptive and descriptive claims, from "Critical Thinking" by Epstein, are very simple concepts to understand and come about every day, whether you are at home, work, or at school. Descriptive claims state a fact, or are a true statement, and prescriptive claims are when someone suggests what ought to be. If you see the words "should" or "should not" in a sentence, that sentence is probably a prescriptive claim. An example of a descriptive claim is "Bryan is a student at San Jose State." This is descriptive because it is a statement about what already is, or a known fact. Anyone that knows me, or is in this class, already knows that I attend San Jose State. An example of a prescriptive claim is" Bryan should get his homework done prior to the deadline." This is prescriptive because I need to and should get my homework done before the Saturday night deadline. Whenever you hear about something that "should" be, now you know that it is a prescriptive claim.
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your explanation of prescriptive and descriptive claims. You conveyed it with clarity and it was simple for anyone to understand and learn from. Your examples to describe each of the prescriptive and descriptive claims also helped me understand this concept better.
After reading your post, I realized that most of the things I hear my friends suggest I do are prescriptive claims. For instance, I have friends tell me that I should to join a sorority because the social aspect of it and the friendships formed are memorable events in college.
I also hear prescriptive claims that relate to your example of getting your "homework done before the Saturday night deadline," from my own parents. They tell me that I should finish my homework before I go hang out with friends or attend rugby practice.