put a negative case

[nimsooze]

"One can put the case for essentialism in a negative form."

• Does "the case for" mean "the arguments in agreement with" or simply "affirmative grounds"?
• What does "put something in a negative form" mean? Using negative verbs?

[MrPedantic]

Hello Nim,

"To put the case for X" is a legal metaphor. When a barrister "puts the case for the defence", for instance, he puts forward arguments to explain why the prosecution's evidence is not sufficient to convict the defendant.

In your example, "put the case for essentialism" means "explain why essentialism is philosophically valid".

It's a little more difficult to paraphrase "in a negative form", since the meaning may depend on the context. It might imply (for example) that the case for essentialism rests not upon its own positive aspects, but upon a belief that it is better than any of the alternatives.

All the best,

MrP

[nimsooze]

I was very depressed . I had many unanswered threads and no one darede to understandably answer them. And suddenly I saw you come back again into my threads. I appreciate your plain and simple way of explaining and I love your being conciously exact.
Thank you MrPed and I beg you answer my other threads.

[MrPedantic]

You're welcome, Nim!

If I see any unanswered threads of yours, I'll do my best to answer.

Best wishes,

MrP

[nimsooze]

Thank you!
Would you please answer my "name oneself" and "consign past to back-projection" threads?