Re: Circular Crackpot Identity

Anton Sherwood (dasher@netcom.com)
Sun, 15 Mar 1998 22:33:06 -0700


> >Ian Goddard wrote:
> >> As I've shown many times, the definition of identity
> >> "A=A" is the crackpot fallacy of Circular Definition:

> Anton Sherwood (dasher@netcom.com) wrote:
> >I don't see the word "identity" in the phrase "A=A", do you?

Ian Goddard wrote:
> IAN: "A" is the identity. [...]

No, identity is the *relation* between A and itself.
If "A" were the identity, then all things which are equal to themselves
would be equal to each other. Is that why you preach that A = the
universe?

If a definition is fallacious for including a paraphrase of the word
defined, then *all* definitions are fallacious. And yet they're still
useful.

-- 
"How'd ya like to climb this high without no mountain?" --Porky Pine
Anton Sherwood   *\\*   +1 415 267 0685