I want to defend society and its inhabitants from all
ideologies, science included.
source
Would you tell me what the preposition from means here?
Although I have seen and known the preposition of might mean against, in fact, my profs. has just told me :
the preposition from in this sentence never ever means
against, it means just of.
Do you know why?
Because if you want to put the preposition of, then you must put a noun of place after the word inhabitants! for example:
Inhabitants of India not inhabitants from India
And, as there is not any place, so we have to put the preposition from instead of of.
Best Answer
A good question, Nima! First, see one of the senses for from
Hence, in the sentence
the meaning of from equals to against, in my view.
However, if in place of ideologies, science included we use phrases like all ideological strata or all ideological groups or all congregations etc., the meaning of from would change, as I see it. Compare:
In this case, the reader will assume that what's meant here is that the members come or originate from diverse ideological strata, or demographic groups, or ideological groups, or whatever.
Try googling
protect people from all
, and you will get sentences likeHere, the people are clearly not being protected from walks of life but rather belong to these walks of life.