Division and Exhaustiveness

Division and Exhaustiveness

Introduction Division lists the possible cases of an issue. Exhaustiveness asks a separate question: have all possible cases actually been included?

Essential distinction Without proving exhaustiveness, rejecting one possibility does not necessarily establish another.

Define division and exhaustiveness using the prescribed chapter. Explain its relevant stages, types, or restrictions. Test the chapter example and a new application.

Primary definition (Urdu source) Division separates the alternatives; exhaustiveness establishes that the alternatives cover every relevant possibility.

Naming two alternatives does not prove that they are exhaustive. If a conclusion relies on eliminating one alternative and accepting the other, it must first be shown that no third possibility remains. An incomplete division cannot support a decisive exhaustive inference.

Book example/table “He is either in Delhi or Mumbai” is exhaustive only if all other locations have genuinely been excluded.

Division gives the alternatives; exhaustiveness proves that the list is complete.