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Circular definition

A circular definition is a type of definition in which the term being defined (the definiendum) appears in the defining expression (the definiens), either directly or through an intermediary chain of definitions, resulting in a self-referential loop that fails to impart new or independent meaning to the term.^[1] This form of definition is commonly regarded as a logical flaw in philosophy and semantics because it assumes the very concept it seeks to explain, thereby providing no genuine clarification or reductive analysis.^[2] Philosophers have long scrutinized circular definitions for their implications in conceptual analysis, argumentation, and knowledge acquisition, tracing back to ancient discussions in Plato's dialogues where Socrates probes the adequacy of definitional accounts.^[1] A classic problem arises in cases of vicious circularity, where the definition cannot be resolved without presupposing the term's meaning, leading to paradoxes such as the liar paradox in truth definitions (e.g., "'This sentence is false' is true if and only if it is false").^[3] For instance, an attempt to define "good" as "that which is approved by the good" exemplifies direct circularity, offering no substantive criterion for evaluation. Such definitions violate traditional standards like the eliminability condition, which requires substituting the definiens for the definiendum without altering truth values in all contexts.^[1] Despite these issues, not all circular definitions are deemed illegitimate; modern theories, such as the revision theory of definitions developed by Anil Gupta and Nuel Belnap, propose that they can yield hypothetical or dynamic meanings through iterative revision processes rather than fixed extensions.^[3] This approach has been applied to concepts like truth and rational choice, where circularity enables handling self-reference without contradiction, influencing semantics, epistemology, and formal logic.^[1] In mathematical contexts, benign circularity appears in recursive definitions, such as Peano's axioms for arithmetic, where functions like addition build upon themselves in a controlled, non-vicious manner.^[1] Overall, circular definitions highlight tensions between intuitive notions of explanation and the complexities of self-referential language.

Core Concepts and Characterization

Defining Circularity

A circular definition arises when the term being defined is explained through itself, a direct synonym, or a set of terms that collectively presuppose its meaning, resulting in a self-referential loop that offers no independent clarification or grounding. This structure contrasts with non-circular definitions, which build on prior, more basic concepts to establish meaning progressively. In everyday language, such circularity might appear innocuous, as when someone describes "sleep" simply as "the state of being asleep," but it undermines effective communication by assuming what it seeks to explain.^[4] The recognition of circular definitions as a flaw in reasoning originates in ancient Greek philosophy, particularly in Aristotle's Posterior Analytics (circa 350 BCE), where he critiques circular demonstrations—proofs that reciprocally support premises and conclusions—as incapable of producing genuine knowledge.^[5] Aristotle insisted that true definitions and explanations must rely on principles prior and better known than the thing defined, arguing that circularity renders them tautological and uninformative, such as claiming "if A is, then A must be."^[6] This foundational critique emphasized that scientific understanding requires hierarchical foundations, not loops, to avoid begging the question in inquiry. Circular definitions pose significant problems in reasoning and communication by leading to infinite regress, where each explanatory step demands further clarification without end; introducing vagueness that obscures precise understanding; and failing to impart new information, as the definition merely restates rather than elucidates.^[7] These flaws extend from casual discourse to abstract philosophical or logical contexts, where unresolved circularity can stall analysis or mislead arguments by masking assumptions as explanations.

Distinguishing Types of Circular Definitions

Circular definitions can be categorized based on their structural and functional properties, revealing variations in how they fail to provide explanatory value. One primary distinction lies between direct and indirect forms. Direct circularity occurs when a definition explicitly incorporates the term being defined within its own explanatory clause, rendering it immediately self-referential and uninformative.^[1] In contrast, indirect circularity arises in chains or networks of definitions where multiple terms interdepend, forming a loop that eventually cycles back to the original concept. An example is defining "A" in terms of "B," "B" in terms of "C," and "C" in terms of "A," creating a closed circuit without external grounding.^[1] A further subtype, often termed begging-the-question circularity, extends beyond pure definitional structure into argumentative contexts, where the definition presupposes the truth or validity of the concept it aims to clarify. This form is prevalent in persuasive or dialectical settings rather than isolated lexical entries, as it embeds an assumption that begs prior acceptance of the claim.^[8] Circular definitions also vary in scope, with narrow and broad forms highlighting degrees of synonymy and conceptual overlap. Narrow circularity employs near-exact synonyms or tautological restatements.^[9] Broad circularity, however, invokes loosely related concepts that lack full independence, allowing superficial novelty but ultimately failing to resolve the original term's meaning through external reference.^[9] Identification of circular definitions relies on diagnostic criteria that expose their explanatory deficits. A substitution test involves replacing the definiendum with its definiens in surrounding contexts; if this yields a tautology or unresolvable redundancy, circularity is evident, as no substantive information is conveyed.^[1] Similarly, assessing information gain evaluates whether the definition introduces novel conceptual content; circular forms yield zero net gain, merely redistributing existing assumptions without advancement.^[1] These tests underscore common pitfalls, such as perpetuating ambiguity or hindering analytical progress in logical or philosophical inquiry.^[10]

Philosophical and Logical Frameworks

Classical Philosophical Approaches

In classical philosophy, Aristotle identified circular definitions as a fundamental fallacy known as petitio principii, or begging the question, wherein an argument assumes its conclusion as a premise, thereby failing to provide genuine proof. In his Topics, particularly Book VIII, Aristotle describes this error as occurring when the premises covertly repeat the conclusion through synonymous terms or ambiguous universals and particulars, rendering the reasoning illusory rather than demonstrative. He elaborates in Sophistical Refutations (chapter 6) that such circularity undermines scientific demonstration by presupposing what requires independent establishment, as true knowledge demands premises that necessitate the conclusion without mutual dependence.^[11] Plato's dialogues, through the character of Socrates, exemplify early critiques of circular explanations in ethical inquiry, emphasizing their inability to distinguish a virtue's essence from accidental features. In the Euthyphro, Socrates rejects Euthyphro's proposed definition of piety as "what the gods love," arguing that it circularly fails to identify piety's inherent nature, instead reducing it to divine preference without explaining why certain actions qualify as pious. Similarly, in the Charmides, Socrates dismantles Critias's suggestion that temperance is "knowledge of knowledge," critiquing it as tautological and insufficient for capturing the virtue's essential role in benefiting the soul, as it merely restates the concept without deeper differentiation. These rejections highlight circularity's flaw in ethical definitions: it obscures the Form or essence of the good, preventing true understanding.^[12] Medieval philosopher Thomas Aquinas built on Aristotelian foundations, reinforcing that real definitions must avoid circularity to properly delineate a thing's essence through its genus and specific difference (per genus et differentiam). Commenting on Aristotle's Posterior Analytics (I, lect. 8), Aquinas condemns circular demonstrations as invalid, since they involve premises that presuppose the conclusion through convertible terms, thus lacking the unidirectional necessity required for proof. This stance underscores non-circular definitions as indispensable for theological and metaphysical science.^[13] During the Renaissance, René Descartes's method of doubt, outlined in his Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), implicitly rejects circularity by seeking indubitable foundations for knowledge, beginning with the cogito ergo sum as a self-evident truth immune to hyperbolic skepticism. Descartes employs systematic doubt to dismantle beliefs susceptible to error, ensuring that foundational certainties like the thinking self's existence do not rely on prior assumptions, thereby aiming to establish non-circular epistemic grounds. However, modern interpreters have accused the cogito and subsequent proofs for God's existence of circularity—the so-called Cartesian Circle—wherein clear and distinct perceptions are guaranteed by God, who is proven through those same perceptions.^[14]

Pragmatic and Modern Logical Views

In the early 20th century, pragmatist philosophers such as William James and John Dewey advanced views that reframed circularity as an inevitable feature of holistic knowledge systems, rather than a fatal flaw. James, in his 1907 lectures on Pragmatism, emphasized that truth emerges from practical consequences and experiential verification within interconnected beliefs, suggesting that some mutual dependencies—resembling circularity—are not only unavoidable but beneficial when they facilitate effective inquiry and problem-solving.^[15] Similarly, Dewey extended this perspective by portraying knowledge as a dynamic, transactional process embedded in social and experimental contexts, where circular reinforcements among beliefs can stabilize understanding and guide action, provided they contribute to resolving indeterminate situations.^[16] Ludwig Wittgenstein's later philosophy, particularly in Philosophical Investigations (1953), further influenced modern logical views by introducing the concepts of language games and family resemblances, which accommodate apparent circularity in meaning without undermining practical functionality. Wittgenstein argued that meanings arise from use within diverse "language games"—rule-governed activities embedded in forms of life—allowing concepts to cohere through overlapping similarities rather than rigid, essential definitions that might loop back on themselves.^[17] The notion of family resemblances, illustrated by the concept of "game," posits that categories are defined by a crisscrossing network of traits without a single common thread, thereby sidestepping the need for potentially circular explications and enabling fluid, context-dependent application in everyday discourse.^[18] In mid-20th-century analytic philosophy, W.V.O. Quine's critique in "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" (1951) bolstered these tolerant attitudes toward circularity by dismantling the analytic-synthetic distinction and advocating a holistic "web of belief." Quine contended that empirical confirmation applies to entire theories rather than isolated statements, implying that beliefs mutually support one another in a structure where revisions occur at the periphery, rendering circular dependencies inherent to rational adjustment rather than vicious.^[19] This web-like epistemology accepts such interconnections as pragmatic necessities for scientific progress, contrasting with classical demands for linear foundations.^[20] Ruth Millikan's 1984 work, Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories, provided a biological grounding for distinguishing vicious from benign circularity in semantic theories. Millikan's teleosemantic approach defines meanings and functions etiologically, through historical selection processes, which avoids harmful loops by anchoring representations in real-world adaptations while permitting benign mutual supports that stabilize conceptual content without begging the question.^[21] Contemporary epistemology, particularly coherentism, builds on these ideas by endorsing circular justification in belief systems when it remains non-question-begging. Coherentists maintain that a belief's warrant derives from its integration into a comprehensive, mutually reinforcing network of beliefs, where circularity manifests as symmetrical coherence rather than isolated self-reference, thus providing robust epistemic support without foundational privileges.^[22] This view, as articulated by philosophers like Laurence BonJour, tolerates such loops in large-scale systems, deeming them benign if they enhance overall explanatory power and avoid arbitrary assumptions.^[23]

Lexicographic and Linguistic Applications

Circular Definitions in Dictionaries

Dictionaries strive to provide clear, non-circular explanations of words, ideally grounding definitions in ostensive demonstrations (pointing to real-world referents) or etymological origins, but lexicographers frequently encounter challenges when dealing with a finite set of foundational terms that cannot be further simplified. For instance, the Oxford English Dictionary handles basic verbs like "be" or "have" through historical and etymological analysis rather than verbal definitions, as these primitives lack simpler synonyms without risking infinite regress or circularity. Circular lexicographic definitions often form closed loops within or across entries, where terms reference each other without advancing understanding. A classic example is the entry for "define" in Merriam-Webster's dictionary, which states it as "to determine or set forth the meaning of (something)," thereby relying on "meaning" to explain the concept of defining itself.^[24] Such loops were more overt in early dictionaries, as seen in Samuel Johnson's 1755 A Dictionary of the English Language, where "network" is defined as "any thing reticulated or decussated, at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections," and "reticulated" is described as "having the form of a net or network."^[25] To mitigate circularity, lexicographers employ strategies like establishing a small set of indefinable primitives—root words that serve as the foundation for all other definitions. C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards, in their 1923 work The Meaning of Meaning, advocated for a small set of indefinable primitives to build hierarchical explanations without loops; this approach influenced Ogden's later Basic English system with its 850-word controlled vocabulary. Modern dictionaries, such as Merriam-Webster, further break potential cycles through structured hierarchies, organizing definitions from more basic to complex terms (e.g., using genus-differentia formats like "a dog is a carnivorous animal...") and cross-referencing only acyclic paths.^[26] Historically, dictionary practices have shifted from Johnson's era, where overt circularity was common due to reliance on synonymous paraphrases amid limited resources, to contemporary methods that prioritize reductive clarity and empirical validation. While these techniques enable quick reference for users familiar with core vocabulary, they carry risks: undetected loops can confuse novice readers, particularly in learner dictionaries, underscoring the need for explicit flagging of primitives or alternative explanations.^[27]

Circularity in Natural Language and Linguistics

In natural language, circularity arises when meanings or interpretations loop back on themselves, creating apparent self-referential cycles that challenge straightforward comprehension. A classic example is the syntactically ambiguous sentence "Time flies like an arrow," which can be parsed in multiple ways—such as time progressing swiftly like an arrow, or insects (time flies) preferring an arrow—leading to interpretive loops where the structure refers back to its own elements for resolution.^[28] Such ambiguities highlight how everyday language often embeds relational dependencies that mimic circular definitions, requiring contextual cues to disentangle. These phenomena are not errors but inherent features of fluid communication, where speakers and listeners navigate loops for expressive efficiency. Ferdinand de Saussure's foundational work in linguistics posits that linguistic signs derive their value solely from their relations to other signs within the langue, the abstract system of language. In this relational framework, "the value of each term results solely from the simultaneous presence of the others," forming a self-contained network where meaning emerges from differences and oppositions rather than isolated essences.^[29] This inherently circular structure—where signs function "not through their intrinsic value but through their relative position"—underpins the synchronic study of language as a closed system, emphasizing interdependence over linear hierarchies. Saussure acknowledges the potential vicious circle in analyzing speech and language as mutually defining, yet views it as essential to the social and conventional nature of langue.^[29] In Chomskyan generative grammar, deep structures incorporate recursive rules that introduce self-referential elements bordering on circularity, such as a phrase structure rule allowing a sentence (S) to embed within itself (e.g., S → NP VP, VP → V S). This recursion enables infinite productivity from finite means but risks definitional loops in syntactic generation, resolved through the innate constraints of universal grammar (UG), which provides a non-circular biological endowment for language acquisition. UG acts as an external anchor, ensuring that recursive definitions yield hierarchical structures rather than unproductive cycles, distinguishing generative models from purely empirical approaches. Seminal formulations in Chomsky's work underscore recursion as a core property of the language faculty, mitigating circularity by grounding it in cognitive universals. Psycholinguistic research from the 2010s demonstrates that humans exhibit notable tolerance for mild circularity and ambiguity in language processing, prioritizing communicative efficiency over perfect clarity. Listeners and readers often overlook pervasive ambiguities, such as those in proverbial expressions, resolving them rapidly through incremental interpretation without explicit rephrasing.^[28] This tolerance facilitates fluid discourse, as cognitive systems favor pragmatic inference over exhaustive disambiguation, allowing circular-like loops (e.g., tautological reinforcements in conversation) to convey intent succinctly. Studies in sentence comprehension reveal that such mechanisms enhance processing speed, with neural and behavioral evidence showing adaptation to relational ambiguities as a hallmark of efficient human communication.^[28] Cross-linguistic variations reveal differing degrees of embedded circularity, with polysynthetic languages like Inuktitut incorporating extensive morphological fusion that creates highly relational word-internal structures, contrasting with the more linear, analytic patterns in English. In polysynthetic systems, verbs can agglutinate multiple arguments and relations into single forms, yielding self-referential embeddings where grammatical roles define each other within the word, amplifying circular dependencies compared to analytic languages' reliance on separate words and order.^[30] This typological contrast influences how meanings loop: analytic languages expose circularity at the phrasal level, while polysynthetic ones internalize it morphologically, affecting interpretive depth across language families.^[30] In recent computational linguistics, large language models (LLMs) as of 2023 handle circular definitions through training on massive corpora, using probabilistic methods to resolve self-referential loops in sense disambiguation and definition generation without explicit hierarchies.^[31] Speakers and analysts mitigate circularity in natural language through techniques like paraphrasing and contextual disambiguation in discourse analysis. Paraphrasing re-expresses looped concepts using alternative terms to break relational cycles, while contextual cues—such as surrounding propositions or shared knowledge—anchor ambiguous signs to non-circular interpretations.^[32] In word sense disambiguation, iterative similarity-based methods resolve circular definitions by converging on contextual patterns, paralleling how discourse participants iteratively refine meanings without vicious loops. These strategies, rooted in pragmatic and cognitive linguistics, ensure that mild circularity serves rather than hinders communication, often referencing dictionary-like tools briefly for initial grounding.^[32]

Formal and Mathematical Theories

Mathematical Models of Circularity

Mathematical models of circularity formalize the interdependent structure of definitions using tools from graph theory, set theory, and domain theory. In these models, circularity arises when a term's meaning relies on itself, either directly or through a chain of dependencies, preventing a hierarchical or acyclic resolution. Such representations are crucial for analyzing definitional loops in formal systems, where traditional well-founded approaches fail. The graph-theoretic model represents definitions as a directed graph G = (V, E), where vertices V correspond to terms and directed edges e \in E indicate definitional dependencies, pointing from a term to the terms used in its definition. Circularity manifests as cycles in this graph: a path that returns to the starting vertex, implying mutual reliance among terms. For instance, in lexical graphs derived from dictionaries, nodes are synsets and edges link to definitional components, revealing thousands of cycles that reflect semantic loops essential for language coherence. Cycle detection can be performed using depth-first search (DFS), which explores paths and identifies back edges to ancestors, or Tarjan's algorithm, which efficiently finds strongly connected components containing cycles. In practice, this model applies to resolving circular imports in programming languages, where modules form a dependency graph; if cycles exist, topological sorting fails, signaling the need for refactoring to impose an acyclic order. A set-theoretic approach models circularity through non-well-founded sets, extending Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory to allow sets that contain themselves or form infinite descending membership chains. Consider a definition set D of terms, where for a term t \in D, the meaning of t is the union of meanings of its definitional components. Term t is circular if t \subseteq \bigcup \{d \mid d depends on t\}, leading to a recursive inclusion that violates the axiom of foundation. Peter Aczel's anti-foundation axiom (AFA) resolves such structures by equating sets via bisimulation, enabling unique solutions to circular equations like \Omega = \{\Omega\}. This framework accommodates hypersets, where membership graphs may contain cycles, providing a mathematical basis for self-referential definitions without paradox. Fixed-point semantics, rooted in domain theory, addresses circularity by interpreting recursive definitions as solutions to semantic equations in complete partial orders (cpos). In denotational semantics, the meaning of a recursive term is the least fixed point of a functional mapping from a domain to itself, ensuring a unique minimal solution that "unfolds" the circularity. Dana Scott's 1970s work established domains as reflexive cpos with continuous functions, allowing fixed points via the Kleene fixed-point theorem: for a monotone function f: D \to D, the least fixed point is \mathrm{lfp}(f) = \bigsqcup_{n=0}^\infty f^n(\bot), where \bot is the bottom element. This approach resolves circular definitions in programming languages by iteratively approximating meanings until convergence. For algebraic cycle detection in the graph model, represent the dependency structure via an adjacency matrix A, where A_{ij} = 1 if term j depends on term i. Circularity exists if \mathrm{trace}(A^k) > 0 for some k \geq 2, as the trace counts closed walks of length k, indicating cycles. Computing matrix powers up to k = |V| suffices for finite graphs, with efficient algorithms leveraging sparse representations. In computer science applications, such as build systems or package managers, detecting these cycles via topological sorting (e.g., Kahn's algorithm) ensures dependencies are resolved in linear time when acyclic, highlighting circularity otherwise.

Implications in Formal Systems and Logic

In predicate logic, circularity within axioms can introduce undecidability by creating self-referential structures that undermine the system's completeness. Gödel's incompleteness theorems (1931) demonstrate this indirectly through the construction of self-referential statements, such as the Gödel sentence, which asserts its own unprovability and reveals inherent loops in sufficiently expressive formal systems like Peano arithmetic. These theorems show that any consistent axiomatization capable of expressing basic arithmetic cannot prove all true statements within itself, as the self-referential mechanism exposes undecidable propositions.^[33] In axiomatic systems, efforts to establish non-circular foundations, as pursued in Hilbert's program during the 1920s, ultimately failed due to the unavoidable loops in consistency proofs. Hilbert aimed to secure mathematics by proving the consistency of formal systems using finitary methods, but Gödel's second incompleteness theorem revealed that such proofs cannot be carried out within the system itself without invoking meta-level assumptions that risk circularity. This failure highlighted that consistency statements are self-referential, leading to an infinite regress in foundational justifications.^[34] To resolve circularity, techniques such as stratification—layering definitions to impose a strict hierarchy—and iterative approximation in proof theory are employed to ensure well-founded derivations. Stratification prevents recursive definitions from cycling back on themselves by assigning levels to predicates, allowing cut-elimination and termination in logics extended with definitions. Iterative approximation, meanwhile, builds fixed points through successive refinements, enabling sound handling of inductive or coinductive structures without vicious loops.^[35] Vicious circularity in logic, which generates paradoxes through unchecked self-reference, is avoided in first-order logic via syntactic well-foundedness, where terms and formulas are constructed hierarchically without infinite descents. Russell's paradox (1901), an extreme case of such circular self-reference, arises from naively assuming the set of all sets not containing themselves exists, leading to contradiction; it is resolved by ramified type theory or axiomatic restrictions like ZFC, enforcing acyclic comprehension.^[36] In modern applications, circularity in AI and ontologies, such as the OWL Web Ontology Language (2004), causes inference failures by introducing cycles in class or property definitions that prevent decidable reasoning. These issues are addressed through acyclic constraints, like enforcing strict subclass hierarchies or detecting cycles during ontology validation, ensuring tractable description logic inferences. Tarski's undefinability theorem (1936) further underscores this by proving that truth predicates cannot be defined non-circularly within the same formal language, as self-referential liar-like constructions lead to inconsistency, necessitating meta-languages for adequate semantics.^[37]^[33]

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