Prescriptive and descriptive claims are very similar to subjective and objective
claims in the definitions. The difference is that prescriptive and descriptive
claims is that they are judgments. A claim is descriptive if it is true and if
it states a fact. The claim "the sun is bright" is a descriptive claim because
it is stating a true fact about the sun. A prescriptive claim, on the other
hand, is making a statement about something the should be true or should be
happening. The statement "you should wear sunglasses" is a prescriptive claim
because it is stating something that should be happening and that should be
true. Just because you believe something to be true does not make it a
descriptive claim. "Cursing is bad" is a prescriptive claim because even though
someone may believe that statement to be true, it is not a true fact. Value judgments are made very commonly using prescriptive claims. If something should be "better" or if something is "worse"
than these are prescriptive claims that are value judgments.
I haven’t really digested the meaning of what prescriptive and descriptive claims were yet. But your explanation and even the simple examples helped! You really broke it down into simple English! Thank you! I never thought that something like “you should wear your sunglasses” would be a judgment. But I guess I see where it’s going. The sun may be bright, but it doesn’t mean you have to wear your sunglasses. Some people choose to walk in the sun and not protect their eyes, but others choose to. I’m trying to think back on all the things I must have said today and I think I’ve said a lot of prescriptive claims. Reading your example of the descriptive claim, I realized that I make a lot of descriptive claims on a daily basis. Like today, I said that it was windy. And it was because the trees were swaying from side to side and my bangs were flying in all direction.
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