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I recently saw the sentence on a grammar example site:

多ければよいというものでもない。

From this example, it seems that this sentence means the same thing:

多ければよいというわけじゃない。

Do these sentence in fact mean the same thing? Are there any differences between "というものでもない" and "というわけじゃない・というわけではない"?

1 Answer 1

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In my own words:

「~~というものだ/ではない」 vs. 「~~というわけだ/ではない」

= Universality vs. Particularity

「~~というものだ/ではない」 is most often used to describe and/or define a phenomenon in light of what is generally considered normal -- in other words, in light of common sense. There is little room for personal opinions here.

「~~というわけだ/ではない」 is usually used to explain the reason for or basic truth about a particular phenomenon in order to persuade either oneself or another person. There is plenty of room for personal opinions here.

OP's example 「多ければよい」 = "the more, the better", however, is simply too broad in meaning to serve as a good example for my explanation of Universality vs. Particularity. In fact, it is so broad that it allows itself much interchangeability for use between the pair of phrases in question. So, I am writing some examples myself.

「それが[侍]{さむらい}の[生]{い}き[方]{かた}というものだ。」= "That is what they call 'samurai's way of life'."

「[長]{なが}く生きれば[必]{かなら}ずよいというものでもない。」= "It could not be said with absolute certainty that the longer you live, the better."

「スミ[子]{こ}が[町]{まち}から[去]{さ}っていったのは、オレのことが[嫌]{きら}いになったわけではない。」= "The reason Sumiko left the town is not that she came to dislike me."

「アメリカ[人]{じん}なら[誰]{だれ}でもハンバーガーが[好]{す}きだというわけじゃないよ。」 = "It is not that every single American likes hamburgers."

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