dormitive principle

短语

词形变化

dormitive principles 复数 dormitive principles

释义与例句

n.
  1. 1.

    A type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.

    习语 语言学 数学 哲学

词源

A modern translation of Latin, virtus dormitiva, coined by Molière in The Imaginary Invalid (1673). In the play, he lampoons a group of physicians providing an explanation in macaronic Latin of the sleep-inducing properties of opium as stemming from its "virtus dormitiva". The currency of this phrase as a critique of scientific claims is due to Gregory Bateson (1976, Steps to an Ecology of Mind p. 5), as is the translation of virtus as 'principle'.

来源：wiktionary