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Definition of Reductio ad absurdum
1. Noun. (reduction to the absurd) a disproof by showing that the consequences of the proposition are absurd; or a proof of a proposition by showing that its negation leads to a contradiction.
Definition of Reductio ad absurdum
1. Noun. (mathematics logic) The method of proving a statement by assuming the statement is false and, with that assumption, arriving at a blatant contradiction. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Lexicographical Neighbors of Reductio Ad Absurdum
Literary usage of Reductio ad absurdum
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Argumentation and Debating by William Trufant Foster (1917)
"Reductio ad Absurdum. It is sometimes possible to show the absurdity of an argument
by a ... This method of refutation is called Reductio ad Absurdum. ..."
2. Argumentation and Debating by William Trufant Foster (1908)
"Reductio ad Absurdum. — It is sometimes possible to show the absurdity of an
argument by a ... This method of refutation is called Reductio ad Absurdum. ..."
3. Argumentation and Debating by William Trufant Foster (1908)
"I. Reductio ad Absurdum. — It is sometimes possible to show the absurdity of an
argument by a ... This method of refutation is called Reductio ad Absurdum. ..."
4. Cap and Gown: Some College Verse by Joseph Le Roy Harrison (1893)
"... reductio ad absurdum. ('\f every ill is love the cure, Howe'er so great that
ill may be ; But if thy ill be love itself, Alas, no cure is left for thee ..."
5. The Theory of Development: A Criticism of Dr. Newman's Essay on the by James Bowling Mozley (1878)
"We must be allowed to say here that the reductio ad absurdum, as a whole form of
argument, is in an unsatisfactory, we may say neglected state,—there are no ..."
6. Socialism and Character by Vida Dutton Scudder (1912)
"... inequality refute the very ideal which it was claimed that they alone could
foster. And so does the Apologia of Religion end in a reductio ad absurdum. ..."
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