dormitive principle
dormitive principle noun: a type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.
Noun
dormitive principle (plural dormitive principles)
- A type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.
- We note Bateson's (1968) dormitive principle at work in which behaviors are described as traits such as LD, which then are used to explain the behavior.1988, Doreen Kronick, New Approaches to Learning Disabilities: Cognitive, Metacognitive, and Holistic
- For Arrow, many socioeconomic phenomena are explained in terms of the "dormitive principle", which, he says, simply repeats the phenomenon being explained.2000, “Rational Choice and Rationallity”, in The Paradox of Social Order: Linking Psychology and Sociology, page 14
- Synonyms:
- dormitive virtue
Examples of dormitive principle in a sentence
- If we examine traditional explanations of behavior through the lens of recursion, we will sometimes find what Bateson called "dormitive principles," a form of circular description.2002, Bradford Keeney, Aesthetics of Change, The Guilford Press,, →ISBN, page 33:
- And to any intelligent reader, explanation of an 'inherent ability' was reminiscent of Molière's mock explanation of the soporific effects of opium - that it contained a 'dormitive principle'.2003, Ian Glynn, An Anatomy of Thought: The Origin and Machinery of the Mind:
- Similarly, to view “leadership" as something that resides in a person is to generate a dormitive principle.2017, Bradford P. Keeney, Aesthetics of Change, page 38:
- Prevent disability from becoming a dormitive principle that can, per se, justify any conduct or event in the interaction of the disabled person2018, Roberto Pereira, Juan Luis Linares, Clinical Interventions in Systemic Couple and Family Therapy, page 215:
Synonyms of dormitive principle
Forms of dormitive principle
| plural | dormitive principles |
|---|
Origin of dormitive principle
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'.
Questions about dormitive principle
- What does dormitive principle mean?
- Dormitive principle means a type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.
- How do you use dormitive principle in a sentence?
- If we examine traditional explanations of behavior through the lens of recursion, we will sometimes find what Bateson called "dormitive principles," a form of circular description.
- What part of speech is dormitive principle?
- Dormitive principle is a noun.
- What is the plural of dormitive principle?
- The plural of dormitive principle is dormitive principles.
Words near dormitive principle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dormitive principle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “dormitive principle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dormitive_principle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.