[talk.origins] Ken's tautologies

lew@ihlpa.UUCP (Lew Mammel, Jr.) (09/19/86)

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> Remember, "vertibrates evolved from invertibrates", and "thumbs evolved to
> make it easier to handle toilet paper" are tautologies, not 'facts'.
> 
 
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> Regards,
> 
> Ken Arndt

A tautology is a statment that is "true by virtue of its logical form alone"
( Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary) or as I understand it, true
by definition, or trivially true. For example, "All bachelors are unmarried"
is a tautology.

I look forward to having Ken explain how his examples qualify as tautologies.
I will be amazed if he retracts his claim that they are.

Lew Mammel, Jr.