dormitive principle
A type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only…A type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.
Meaning
1 senses(idiomatic, rhetoric)A type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.
снотво́рный при́нципsnotvórnyj príncip
Translations
2 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
A modern translation of Latin, virtus dormitiva, coined by Molière in The Imaginary InvaliA 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'.
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Forms
plural: dormitive principles| Singular | dormitive principle |
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| Plural | dormitive principles |
regular