The Implication of the word "Any" - Analysis by a student of Logic
05 Jan 2023 12:47:58
A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court Monday upheld by a 4:1 majority the decision taken by the central government six years ago in 2016 to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations. The majority, comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer, B R Gavai, A S Bopanna, V Ramasubramanian, held that the Centre’s notification dated November 8, 2016, was valid and satisfied the test of proportionality.
Amid this judgement, Section 26(2) of the RBI act is discussed in the judgment on the decision of Demonetisation, probably by many experts and platforms.
The text of the said act is referred to by almost all the print media. "On the recommendation of the Central Board ( of the RBI ) the Central Government may, by notification in the Gazette of India, declare that, with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification, any series of bank notes of any denomination shall cease to be a legal tender."
Now, the implication of the word ' any ' is debated by many. Surprisingly the word appears many times when one studies Logic as a subject. And the question always is whether it implies 'some' or 'all' or 'one'. Technically the word some implies 'one ', it also implies 'not all'( many, few, almost all, majority of them, most of them etc all these are covered by the use of the word 'some')
Let us give you some examples of statements parallel to the text of the act be considered to get the correct meaning.
1) Any fruit from any basket is sweet.
2) Any flower from any bunch is fresh.
Does it mean one fruit or one flower? Or does it imply some fruits or some flowers?
It doesn't mean one flower or fruit. Neither does it mean some fruits or some flowers. It suggests that one may pick any fruit or flower, one would find that it has the said quality. It covers all the members of the given set when the word 'any' is used.
If it implies one or some, the expression would be different. The logical structure of any statement is revealed by the words used in any statement.
When it covers the entire set, ('all') it implies that if a member of the first set is a fruit or a flower then it has the quality of being fresh or being sweet. Every member selected would have the quality described in the statement.
The judgement attracted logical analysis, it is put forth for those who try to analyse it.