Some weird thoughts on the number 7 & a recliner I once owned

(Originally written July 2, 2007 in the Red Notebook)

Notes for Epistemological Tautology

7. What is the definition of 7?
a) 1+6 (6+1)
b) 2+5 (5+2)
c) 3+4 (4+3)
d) 8-1
e) 9-2
f) 10-3
g) 7x1
h) 49/7
i) 42/6
j) 35/5
k) 28/4
l) 21/3
m) 14/2
etc, etc, ad infinitum

The definition of 7 is any combination of mathematical equations equal to seven. The complete definition of 7 is the totality of such equations. When we know that 3+4=7 the we know a partial definition of 7. Simply because we do not know that 21,812/3,116=7 does not mean that we do not know the definition of 7, only that we do not know the whole definition of 7.

Every equation that equals 7, is a tautology. That is, 14/2=7 or 21,812/3,116=7 is simply another way of stating that 7=7. All knowledge of numbers is tautological. That is to say that arithmetic is a gigantic conglomerate of tautologies.

Now, we shall apply this methodology to people, places or things that you know (any noun) or any thing that exists. Think on a thing, like a chair. Now isolate in your mind a particular chair, not the universal concept of chair. I have a recliner that is brown leather and beaten up. I purchased it at a yard sale. It is my favorite spot to sit in the whole house.

What is the definition of the recliner I am talking about?
a) brown chair
b) leather chair
c)brown leather chair with holes in it
d) the brown leather chair with holes in it I purchased at a yard sale

Now we can take definitions A, B, C, or D and set them equal to one another and to the name 'Chris' recliner' and we have a tautology. The knowledge we have of my recliner is tautological because "the brown leather chair with holes in it purchased at a yard sale on such-and-such a date" tells us nothing new about Chris' recliner. Wait a second! How could you have known that about my recliner before I told you? You didn't know this information before I told you and thus, it couldn't be tautological.

Remember I purchased this chair at a yard sale. I do not know the entire history of the chair. I cannot tell you its origin or its whereabouts at all times before I purchased it. Does my lack of knowledge make the chair's history any less a part of it? Of course not! But, can you plausibly deny that I do not know the definition of my own recliner? Prior to this silly little experiment did you know that 21,812/3,116=7? No? But you know the definition of 7 surely? All you learned by this is another way of expressing 7, because 7 entails the prior equation, just like Chris' recliner entails "the brown leather chair with holes in it purchased at a yard sale on such-and-such a date"+ some lost history. Thus, once you became aware of the existence of Chris' recliner all other knowledge about the recliner was merely tautological and you learn only ways of expressing the notion of Chris' recliner.