Generalisation
Tenuous note
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Jun 21, 2025
A generalisation is a statement about a class.
The generalisation applies to instances of that class.
Generalisation and ambiguity
Both ambiguity and generalisation involve one-to-many relationships:
- Ambiguity: one perception with many possible interpretations
- Generalisation: one class with many possible instances
The distinction is that the interpretations in a case of ambiguity are mutually independent, whereas the instances in a generalisation are members of some class.
A generalisation assumes some model that explains the class and its membership. Without an understanding of the model, a generalisation may have the appearance of an ambiguity.
Related: On ambiguity, Instance