 Some philosophers have recently applied the study of generics to a range of long-standing philosophical issues and puzzles. As a fascinating illustration, Roy Sorensen (2012) argues that a proper understanding of generics can solve the sorites paradox. An example of the sorites paradox is the following: 1 is a small number; small numbers have small successors; therefore 1,000,000,000 is a small number. The second premise is the inductive step, and is here formulated as a generic. Sorensen proposes that, like most generics, the inductive step admits of exceptions: there are some (or at least one) small numbers whose successor is not itself a small number. If this is so, then the paradox is resolved: the argument is simply invalid. In order for the argument to be valid, the inductive step cannot be an exception-tolerating generic, but rather an exceptionless universal, e.g., for all n, if n is a small number, so is \(n+1\). Indeed, the paradox is often formulated in this way—i.e., with a universal as the inductive step. Here, however, Sorensen argues that we are simply interpreting the universal as a generic, just as when adults accept “all ducks lay eggs” despite knowing that male ducks do not lay eggs (Leslie et al. 2011).