>
> On Mon, 6 Sep 1999, Russell Standish wrote:
> > > On Fri, 3 Sep 1999, Russell Standish wrote:
> > > > > > Then maybe I misunderstood you. A tautology is a term with redundant
> > > > > > parts, ie it is equivalent to some subset of itself. I took your
> > > > > > statement that "ASSA is a tautology" to mean that ASSA is equivalent
> > > > > > to SSA (symbolically ASSA <=> SSA). I directly contradict this in my
> > > > > > first sentence.
> > > > >
> > > > > > [JM wrote]
> > > > > From WordNet (r) 1.6 (wn)
> > > > > tautology n 1: (in logic) a statement that is necessarily true; "the
> > > > > statement `he is brave or he is not brave' is a tautology" 2: useless
> > > > > repetition; "to say that something is `adequate enough' is a tautology"
> > > > >
> > > > > I was not aware of meaning 2 of the word, while I have
> > > > > frequently encountered the word used for meaning 1.
> > > > >
> > > > The definition I gave and the one you quoted are equivalent.
> > >
> > > I quoted two very different definitions. The one you gave is
> > > equivalent to #2. The one I meant in my 'zombie wives' post was #1.
> >
> > Sorry, I missed the second definition. It is merely a colloquial
> > generalisation of definition 1, and is definitely the one I was using.
>
> Generalization? That's BS. They are totally different.
> Example of def. 1: A or not A
> Example of def. 2: A and A
>
OK - I see your point. I was stuck in a mode of thought because I'd
only ever heard of definition 2 of the word tautology. My Australian
Oxford Pocket dictionary, for example only lists definition 2. A
genuine semantic misunderstanding.
Anyway, back to our muttons - what you are saying is that ASSA is true
by definition. This is wrong. It is an assumption, just as the SSA is
an assumption (that's what the last A stands for, after all).
> - - - - - - -
> Jacques Mallah (jqm1584.domain.name.hidden)
> Graduate Student / Many Worlder / Devil's Advocate
> "I know what no one else knows" - 'Runaway Train', Soul Asylum
> My URL: http://pages.nyu.edu/~jqm1584/
>
>
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Dr. Russell Standish Director
High Performance Computing Support Unit,
University of NSW Phone 9385 6967
Sydney 2052 Fax 9385 6965
Australia R.Standish.domain.name.hidden
Room 2075, Red Centre
http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks
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Received on Mon Sep 06 1999 - 17:25:56 PDT