Re: Revised Tautology FAQ - Thread-5

I am very dubious about the way that you using the word "tautology."
Here are some definitions of tautology (the logical variety) from
various sources:

From the on-line edition of the Oxford English Dictionary:

"f. Mod. Logic. A compound proposition which is unconditionally true
for all the truth-possibilities of its elementary propositions and by
virtue of its logical form."

From the Wikipedia:

"In propositional logic, a tautology (from the Greek word
[tautologos]) is a propositional formula that is true under any
possible valuation (also called a truth assignment or an
interpretation) of its propositional variables. For example, the
propositional formula [(A)V(--A)] ("A or not-A") is a tautology,
because the statement is true for any valuation of A."

From The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Second Edition:

"Tautology, a proposition whose negation is inconsistent, or (self-)
contradictory, e.g., 'Socrates is Socrates'...."

From The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, Second Edition:

"tautology. A well-formed formula [phi] of the propositional calculus
is a tautology if the formula is true whatever truth-values are
assigned to its basic (atomic) propositional components."

These definitions all say the same thing. A (logical) tautology is a
statement that cannot be false. If an observation can falsify a
statement, then that statement cannot be a tautology. The statement
that "either it is raining or it is not raining" is a tautology. It is
true regardless of whether rain is or is not observed. The statement
that "it is raining" cannot be a tautology because it is false if rain
is not observed. The statement "E = mc^2" is not a tautology because
it is conceivable that observed measurements of "E," "m," and "c"
could show the equation does not hold in some circumstance.

The creationists use the term correctly when they say (or, at least,
imply) that "survivors are survivors" is a tautology. They go astray
when they say or imply that "natural selection" is nothing more than
the assertion that "survivors survive."

Ivar

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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Last chance to revise the new Tautology FAQ
    ... "The survivors are the survivors." ... My concern is that the current proposed Tautology FAQ is ... people concerned with the foundations of mathematics. ... "This preservation of favourable variations, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Revised Tautology FAQ - Thread-5
    ... unfalsifiable because it is a tautology, ... Fittest" (SoF) as well as a muddling of the various possible ... selection is a "truism", this led to a focus on the phrase SoF ... "all survivors are the fittest". ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: Darwins principle of divergence - Tautology
    ... the fittest" to uncover it's true meaning. ... This of course then has to be "filled in" for every specific species with the detailed analysis of the advantages that species had. ... learning that the population consists of survivors. ... A TAUTOLOGY IS A TAUTOLOGY: ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: What is it with tautologies and NS?
    ... logical tautology. ... That the survivors survive is both true and vacuuous. ... alternative feature in that environment. ... to those organisms that die and are less successful at reproduction. ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: What is it with tautologies and NS?
    ... logical tautology. ... That the survivors survive is both true and vacuuous. ... Furthermore the costs that Odin refers to works against any and all ...
    (talk.origins)