peirce's law
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.53 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
1
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
The classically valid but intuitionistically non-valid formula ((P→Q)→P)→P of propositional calculus, which can be used as a substitute for the law of excluded middle in implicational propositional calculus.
Example Sentences
- "Consider Peirce's law, ((P→Q)→P)→P). If Q is true, then P→Q is also true so the law reads "If truth implies P then deduce P" which certainly makes sense. If Q is false, then (P→Q)→P≡(P→⊥)→P≡¬P→P≡¬P→P and ¬P≡¬P→⊥≡¬¬P so the law reads ¬¬P→P, which is intuitionistically false but equivalent to the classical axiom ¬P∨P."