Descriptions, Inferences and Evaluations: How Do You Know This Film is Wonderful?

When we speak to other people, we usually describe things and events, we come up with inferences (conclusions, assumptions, suspicions, predictions, explanations, etc.), and evaluate events or other people. Quite often, however, we tend to mix the three even in one sentence. Distinguishing one from the other may in practice be very difficult. People’s awareness of how the three are often mixed seems low, and this may lead to negative social consequences. We often make sweeping inferences on the basic of very limited facts that we can observe and describe. Talking about the future is never based on descriptions. Evaluations are always subjective although they may be shared with other people becoming inter-subjective in this way.