Learn English – defend from vs. defend against

prepositions

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

—used as a function word to indicate physical separation or an act or condition of removal, abstention, exclusion, release, subtraction, or differentiation (protection from the sun, relief from anxiety)

Hence, in the sentence

I want to defend society and all of its members from all ideologies, science included.

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:

I want to defend society and all of its members from all ideological strata, including those who pursue science as their chief interest.

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 like

Our organization helps protect people from all walks of life / all backgrounds ..

Here, the people are clearly not being protected from walks of life but rather belong to these walks of life.

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