petitio principii for the mathematically inclined

petitio principii

Petitio principii for the mathematically inclined? Awright!

This brief video infra, which is posted on YouTube by a supposed pedagogic site and which I reproduce here under fair use, is truly a remarkably simple, mathematical illustration, using the most basic arithmetic, of a circular argument and even serves to illustrate a diallelus. And all that in 75 seconds. Wow!

"One, two, four, seven and so one"? (@ 27")

Due to the lack of any equation, formula or algorithm, numerous series, sequences or "patterns", could be established after 1, 2, 4, 7. For example, the following three numbers could just as easily follow and "form a pattern": 13, 24 and 44.

• Add the two numbers before 4 and add them to 4. (1+2+4=7)
• Add the two numbers before 7 and add them to 7. (2+4+7=13)
• Add the two numbers before 13 and add them to 13. (4+7+13=24)
• Add the two numbers before 24 and add them to 24. (7+13+24=44)
• ...
  

Uh, and 12, 19 and 30 could no less easily follow and "form a pattern". When she has started and claims to be “continuing with the same pattern” (@ 45”), one easily sees another, different evolving pattern. She starts with 1 after which she continues by adding prime numbers (see second row, 1+2+3+...). Thus, instead of adding 4 to obtain 11 (7+4), one could continue by adding 5, 7, 11, 13, 19 et cetera.

• Add 2 (a prime number) to 2. (2+2=4)
• Add 3 (a prime number) to 4. (3+4=7)
• Add 5 (a prime number) to 7. (5+7=12)
• Add 7 (a prime number) to 12. (7+12=19)
• Add 11 (a prime number) to 19. (11+19=30)
• ...
  

Or how about this pattern, 4, 2 and 1, as "the next three numbers" (@ 21") by simply seeing a potential palindrome (1, 2, 4, 7, 4, 2, 1)? Or ...

QED

PS
The series in the video is not logically invalid per se; nonetheless, begging the question is a fallacious form of argument since it uses the point to be proven as part of the argument to be proved. ... Hmm, why does that remind me of creationist reasoning? Oh, well, wasn't it Russell who said: "Many people would sooner die than think? In fact, they do."
PPS
2B Cont.

Okeanos and Tethys Rising

Okeanos and Tethys Rising

Before the new pantheon of the gods under Zeus, during Ancient Greece's Golden Age (think Eleusina, Orpheus or Prometheus) the Titanes and Titanides reigned.


Humanity, according to certain Neoplatonists, was born of the blood shed by Titans in their battle against Zeus. Hesiod (700 BCE) writes in Opera et Dies (ll. 109-120) that the Titans "lived like gods without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief: miserable age rested not on them; but with legs and arms never failing they made merry with feasting beyond the reach of all evils. When they died, it was as though they were overcome with sleep, and they had all good things; for the fruitful earth unforced bare them fruit abundantly and without stint. They dwelt in ease and peace upon their lands ..." The Titan Okeanos, Latin oceanus from which the term ocean (variations on a word, an evolving theme and, yes, reflections of paradigm shifts), was one of two sons by Ouranos and Gaia, literally Sky and Earth. Okeanos and Tethys, one of his two sisters, parented all the springs or sources, rivers and lakes, hence their three thousand daughters, the Oceanids, and three thousand sons, the Potamoi.

Anthropomorphism, anthropotheism, and the interrelated natural phenomenon of humidity and fertility: around this time of year, due to the changing temperatures of the seasons, hoar frost again turns into steam fog, and as the sun burns away the mist we're left with residual dew. That natural phenomenon was understood as Okeanos and Tethys rising. Where they laid down, the soil was fruitful, rich, abundantly fertile. This phenomenon, Okeanos and Tethys Rising, was and is particularly evident in valleys and quite a spectacle if observed from ridges or plateaus.