VICIOUS CIRCLE. - A fallacy in reasoning into which one falls when, needing to prove two propositions together, one is proved by means of the other (a by b and b in turn by a); or again when any proposition whatsoever is proved by means of a second whose certainty and truth depends on the first (a by b when b stands only by a).
One falls, for example, into a vicious circle who proves the value of evidence by divine truthfulness, and divine truthfulness by evidence (Descartes). Evidently, the vicious circle, because of its open logical inconsistency, is admitted only at successive and distant moments of thought, when in a complex logical process one forgets that what is currently being understood or must be proved was already previously assumed as the basis and premise of the demonstrative process. The vicious circle corresponds to one of the forms of begging the question (αἰτειάθαι τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς) set forth by Aristotle. Today the two expressions are commonly used as synonyms.
Bibliography2 worksAristotle, Analyt. Pr., II, 16 (entire), I, 23, 40 b 30-33; St. Albert the Great, Elencharum, I, tract. 3, chap. 13: Opera omnia, II, Paris
BIBL.: Aristotle, Analyt. Pr., II, 16 (entire), I, 23, 40 b 30-33; St. Albert the Great, Elencharum, I, tract. 3, chap. 13: Opera omnia, II, Paris 1890, pp. 580-82.
Viglino, Ugo. “Circolo Vizioso.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III, col. 1700. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/circolo-vizioso.
MLA
Viglino, Ugo. “Circolo Vizioso.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, col. 1700. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/circolo-vizioso.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec3_circolo_vizioso,
author = {Viglino, Ugo},
title = {Circolo Vizioso},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {III},
pages = {1700},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/circolo-vizioso}
}
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