I’d define it as a statement in which the meaning of the subject and predicate are identical. For example “Ice is frozen water”. However to make such a statement one needs previous knowledge about water and the process of freezing.
Then it seems like tautology simply means any metaphysical given ( = not man-made). The so-called human group of common attributes contains two hands as it equally does a conceptual faculty. For instance, A given ant is currently pinching a piece of sand is a tautological statement as well.
Then it seems like tautology simply means any metaphysical given ( = not man-made). The so-called human group of common attributes contains two hands as it equally does a conceptual faculty. For instance, A given ant is currently pinching a piece of sand is a tautological statement as well.
This is not a proposition but an observation. Pinching a piece of sand is not an essential property of ant, such an action doesn’t define it. Tautology, however, is a defining proposition which describes an essential property of the object. Therefore " Ice is frozen water" is a definition but " ice is white" isn’t. Existence has only one essential property-it exists. Existence exist by definition.
What is the difference between saying: “A” rather than saying: “A is A”?
Is “A is A” just a flat tautology that doesn’t add any value to the simpler “A” or is “A is A” a rich tautology that includes some additional sense?
Indeed “A is A” adds additional value, that value is: Time.
I look at “A” and then I look again to it and I say: “A is still A”.
Doesn’t matter how mach time passes between first and second look. Some time needs to be there.
Keeping “A” identical to itself allows our mind to work. Our mind is dialectical, a continuous flux, that needs something permanent to be able to work.
It is about the meaning rather than the words/scribbles one takes time to interpret
More importantly, A is A is not the complete statement, “A is A at the same time and in the same respect”
Quote
To have an identity means to have a single identity; an object cannot have two identities. A tree cannot be a telephone, and a dog cannot be a cat. Each entity exists as something specific, its identity is particular, and it cannot exist as something else. An entity can have more than one characteristic, but any characteristic it has is a part of its identity. A car can be both blue and red, but not at the same time or not in the same respect. Whatever portion is blue cannot be red at the same time, in the same way. Half the car can be red, and the other half blue. But the whole car can’t be both red and blue. These two traits, blue and red, each have single, particular identities. http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Metaphysics_Identity.html