Entry: reductio (n.)
In context: "'Intuition, induction, reductio, what?'"
Definition: Is DFW talking about reductio ad absurdum?
The practice of demonstrating the falsity of a hypothesis, principle, etc., by showing that the consequence of assuming it to be true is something absurd or contradictory; an instance of this; = reduction to the absurd at reduction n. 10b. Also in extended use: the action or an act of carrying something to an absurd extreme.
Other:
SNOOT score: 1
Page: 772
Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Definitive Jest is a vocabulary-building and SNOOT-approved word-of-the-day blog centered around David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.
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