ABSTRACT
W E have seen that, given strict application of the traditional criteria of truth and of the traditional rules of reasoning, the answer to any empirical question of the form “ Is A different
from B?” is Yes. (It will be remembered that A and B can be qualities as well as objects.) For there is always some purpose for which A can be shown to be different from B. And, although there is also always some purpose for which A can be shown to be the same as B, a differen tiation is normally thought of as more precise than, and as more factual than, an assimilation. (See above, Chapter VI.)
It follows that every empirical statement of the form “ A is different from B” is trivially true and quite redundant when put forward in a discussion which purports to be rigorous in its conformity to the rules.
