Linguistic Presupposition

Definition

In language, a presupposition is a pre-existing belief present in the background of a sentence.

A sentence that uses a presupposition is one which relies on a certain belief to be taken for granted first, in order for the remainder of the sentence is held to understood or held as true.

Another word that may be used is “assumption”.

A presupposition may be based on a commonly held belief. Or (and this is where presuppositions can become dangerous) the presupposition may not be true at all.

Presuppositions with little basis in fact are peppered thoughout language all the time. However, because of the “quiet” nature in which they are presented, they are not often oberserved by the listener and therefore are taken for granted as being true. In fact, you can get someone to believe a presupposition (which under any other circumstances they might question), simply by distracting them by other facts in your sentence.

For example:

I went to that cool new bar called Leroy’s Place in Juno Street last week.

The presupposition? That there is a street called Juno Street.

Chances are, you were so engaged by the existence of the bar called Leroy’s Place, you didn’t question the existence of Juno Street.

Here’s another:

Whenever my brother has a coldsore, he uses “SoreGo” and it works every time.

Presupposition: That the writer has a brother.

Here’s another:

Before I went into drug rehab, I found it hard to keep down a full-time job.

The presupposition: The writer used to be a drug addict.

It’s important at this point to distguish between presupposition and implication. For example, in this sentence, there is a strong implication that drugs are bad for you by implying a causal relationship between drug use and loss of work.

The writer cleverly paints a picture in your mind of the entire “back story” of his life. The story that flashed into your mind when reading the sentence may vary depending on what your experience of a drug addict’s life would be, but chances are it went something like this:

He got into drugs. It messed him up so much that he wasn’t turning up to work, and when he did turn up, he was high all the time, so they fired him. This continued to happened with every job he had until he eventually hit rock bottom, and checked himself into rehab. Through months of intensive therapy (withdrawal symptoms, the works), he came out clean. He’s since got a new job which he’s now able to keep hold of, so his life has improved. Conclusion: Drugs are bad for you.

Bearing in mind that all this would have happened in nano-seconds, and was processed through your sub-conscious.

Whenever your brain has to fill in a blank for something else, it is more powerful and more likely to create a belief in your mind, because it’s not someone stating it directly for you; it’s your brain creating a reality out of implication, and the brain never mistrusts itself! A certain amount of “blank-filling” is necessary in order to function in everyday life (otherwise a simple conversation would take days to finish). However, the danger arises when we fill the blanks ourselves and then regard those formations as proven fact. We then start to form new beliefs and make decisions based on the faulty beliefs.

Media:

Presuppositions can also be used subtley by the media to convey a certain picture of a situation — for example:

“Following the suspicious death of Margaret Grey in her apartment last night, police are interviewing her neighbor, John Brown. Mr Brown is described as a “loner” in his late 30’s, has tattoos, and alledgedly ran over his neighbour’s dog last year following a dispute.”

The presupposition?

That John Brown isn’t a very nice person. And the implication from that is that he is guilty. We might not have had the same kind of reaction to the story if the writer had described John as, “a quiet man, who was voted best employee last month, and who attends church on Sundays.” Even if it were equally true. The power of this presupposition depends upon common misconceptions, fears or assumptions about people who “keep to themselves”, have tattoos, and the kind of person who would deliberately run over an animal (note that the claim is simply alledged and never stated as proven fact).

In this example, the presupposition has enforced a particular Frame by which we now view the suspect.

This use of presupposition in media is, of course, very dangerous, because a perfectly innocent person can get caught up in the hype and condemned by the public before trial, irrespective of actual evidence.

Use in Marketing:

In Asia, one of the most popular beauty products on the market are those with “whitening” properties. Everywhere, girls and woman want to become “flawless white”. Marketing for such products is based on the presupposition that whiteness is desirable and being brown or tanned is not. If you don’t believe that being white is more desirable, the marketing is lost on you.

On the other hand, in many the other parts of the world, people flock to tanning beds and stock up on bronzing lotion, in the belief that being “pasty-white” is undesirable, and one should look “sun-kissed”. Advertisements for bronzing however would hold no value for anyone that believes that being white is preferrable to being brown.

Summary:

Presuppositions can be very subtle, but they are used all the time by the media, by advertising, by politicians, by writers, by teachers, even by religious leaders. Not all presuppositions are bad per se or are deliberately intended to deceive, but it’s good to recognize when they are present!