Homework Help: latin

Posted by James on Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 5:32pm.

Short form of the question: is "reductio ad miseratum" correct Latin?

But if you're interested, here's the whole story:

"Reductio ad absurdum" is a logical argument where you use the premise to deduce an absurd conclusion-- since the conclusion is so absurd it can't possibly be true, you can reject the premise.

In a similar vein, I've noticed that people sometimes argue that a given course of action would have horrible consequences, and therefore the action under consideration cannot possibly by entertained. Colloquially, I have called this sort of argument "reductio ad miseratum", which is my own way of trying to say "reduced to misery" or something similar.

Unfortunately, I've never had a day of latin class, and am now about to write a little article about "reductio ad miseratum". So if I'm going to correct any grammatical errors, now is the time. Help!

More like logic or philosophy - Writeacher, Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 6:48pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum

There is no such Latin word as "miseratum" -- there's miser, -a, -um (adjective), misere (adverb), miseratio (noun), miserandus, -a, -um (adjective), miserabilis (adjective), misereo (verb), and others -- but no "miseratum" anywhere in ancient Latin.

If you want to use that noun to complete your invented phrase, then use "miserationem."
latin - James, Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 9:45am
"Reducio ad miserationem" is precisely what I was looking for-- thank you.

Answer this Question

Related Questions

english - Okay... these are a lot of questions! would Auden's 'The ...
latin - what is the latin abbbreviations for speak at will, and the rest, ...
latin - what does this mean in latin Hodie viis ad Europam ambulamus
latin - I am stuck on translating the below from Latin to Englis: Impluvium in ...
Latin - Can anyone think of any witty or inspirational Latin phrases? I have a ...
AD Analysis (URGENT) - I have to do an ad analysis on alcohol and I've ...
AD Analysis (URGENT) - I have to do an ad analysis of alcohol. And I've ...
Calculus - Dot Product - consider a rhombus ABCD a) find the resultant of vector...
PHI 103 Informal Logic - 4. After being told that she is being punished for ...
Latin - I took out the Latin Rosetta Stone from the library and im at the end of...

For Further Reading

First Name:
School Subject:
Answer: