---

• n  (reduction to the absurd) a disproof by showing that the consequences of the proposition are absurd; or a proof of a proposition by showing that its negation leads to a contradiction

• Or as New York art critic Adrian Dannatt puts it, "a reductio ad absurdum of Freud's equation of money and excreta.
• That is the way great ideas end, not with a bang, not with a whimper, but through reductio ad absurdum.
• His method of reductio ad imbecillum is to expound a subject in its simplest terms, putting caricaturist's emphasis on one or two superficial details.

• reductio ad absurdum

News & Articles

---

• Private Roads Are Possible -- I've Seen Them
  A reductio that is commonly used against free marketers and libertarians is "What about roads?"
  Aug. 14, 2013 - Forbes

Quotes

---

• Yaron Brook in NewsByUs
  These proposals are the reductio ad absurdum of nanny-state paternalism,said Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. "According to these politicians, instead of having a government that protects our right to live our...
• Annie Proulx in Charlotte Observer
  The arguments of protecting people against harm can evolve into reductio ad absurdum. Yes, a motorcyclist is more vulnerable in the event of an accident, because there is no cage around him or her, than is a person in a car. But I put to you that... Peter Kormos http://www.google.com/url?q=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kormos&source=dictionary&usg=AFQjCNFR5gmmP-6IlVN64kKB_5bNWPw_5w Georgina Advocate http://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.georginaadvocate.com/News/Whitchurch-Stouffville/article/85933&source=dictionary&usg=AFQjCNFuuYQn-z5uZRbZvdzlbNK1XcNe7g Dec 13, 2008 81584 109482 reductio I find this list of ten books project to be difficult, pointless, and wrong-headed," wrote Annie Proulx. "Lists, unless grocery shopping lists, are truly a reductio ad absurdum."