The article may evoke a kind as a conceptual whole, without asserting that each individual has been separately examined. That is the generic or essence-oriented reading.
An exhaustive reading, by contrast, applies the predicate across the relevant members of the class. Exceptions, quantifiers, and the nature of the predicate help decide which reading is intended.
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Al-Ta‘rif wa al-Tankir: Rhetorical Functions of Definiteness and Indefiniteness
The article may evoke a kind as a conceptual whole, without asserting that each individual has been separately examined. That is the generic or essence-oriented reading.
An exhaustive reading, by contrast, applies the predicate across the relevant members of the class. Exceptions, quantifiers, and the nature of the predicate help decide which reading is intended.