Heuristic Remarks on Some Basic Concepts

Abstract

Assume, we are able to prove a certain proposition for all elements of some set, M, satisfying a certain property G. The proposition, although still true, is void if no element of M has property G. The strongness of the proposition increases with the size of the subset, G, of those elements satisfying G. If G is large enough as to admit the interpretation that it represents the usual behavior in M, then one speaks of G as a generic property. That means, the property G is typical for the class or “genus” represented by the set M.