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Literary notes about Example (AI summary)

The term “example” in literature serves a variety of functions, ranging from illustrating abstract logical principles to providing models of behavior or evidence for an argument. In logical treatises, for instance, Lewis Carroll uses “example” to formalize propositions ([1], [2]), while philosophical works—such as those by Nietzsche and Rousseau—invoke examples to underscore moral or doctrinal points ([3], [4]). In narrative and dramatic texts, “example” often introduces a specific case or behavior worthy of imitation or warning, as seen in Shakespeare’s discussion of deeds ([5]) or in moral exhortations in the Bible and other historical texts ([6], [7]). Even in technical writing or grammar, the term is used to pinpoint a specific instance that clarifies a rule, whether it is a mathematical construction or an artistic technique ([8], [9]). Thus, across different genres, “example” helps authors bridge general ideas and concrete instances, guiding readers to understand and reflect on the broader implications through specific illustrations.
  1. [For example, “Some x y′ exist”, “No x′ are y ”, &c.]
    — from Symbolic Logic by Lewis Carroll
  2. For example, suppose we had the Pair of Propositions “No gluttons are healthy; No unhealthy men are strong”.
    — from Symbolic Logic by Lewis Carroll
  3. At bottom Jesus could not have desired anything else by his death than to give the strongest public example and proof of his doctrine....
    — from The Twilight of the Idols; or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer. The Antichrist by Nietzsche
  4. [Pg 48] As an example of this I point to the intercourse with books.
    — from Ecce Homo by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
  5. He cannot steadily keep alive within himself a sense of the importance of any positive, limited thing,—a deed, for example.'
    — from Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth by A. C. Bradley
  6. Rottenness and worms shall inherit him, and he shall be lifted up for a greater example, and his soul shall be taken away out of the number.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  7. Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.
    — from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete
  8. An example is:— Haú bonŭm | teneō | sérvom –́ ⏑ ⏑ | ⏑̇
    — from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane
  9. Here is an example, and it will doubtless puzzle some of my more youthful readers just a little.
    — from Amusements in Mathematics by Henry Ernest Dudeney

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