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FUTURE LOGIC

© Avi Sion, 1990 (Rev. ed. 1996) All rights reserved.

 

CHAPTER 59.  FACTORIAL FORMULA REVISION.

 

1.    Adding Fractions to Integers.

2.    Reconciliation of Integers. 

3.    Indefinite Denial of Integers. 

4.    Other Formula Revisions. 

5.    Revision of Deficient Formulas. 

 

1.      Adding Fractions to Integers.

 

            We saw that, in natural (or temporal) modality, only 10 factors out of 15 are induced by factor selection from gross elements or compounds. Likewise, in the wider context of mixed modality, only 21 out of 63 factors emerge out of factor selection from gross formulas. Since all gross formulas were considered, the question arises, what of the remaining 5 or 42 factors, how do they ever occur in knowledge?

            There is clearly a gap to fill; our theory of induction is not so far exhaustive, and is in need of further refinement. The answer has to be that we add fractions to induced integers, in analogy to gross formula amplification. Let us examine this idea.

            As a state of being, an integer is final (if only for the time or circumstances concerned), it is a whole, complete as it is. This means that any fraction not included in it, is factually incompatible with it, and may not be joined to it.

            But as a state of knowledge, an apparent integer may turn out to be incomplete. The conjunction of two or more particular fractions may have been thought to be complete, a correct image of reality, but then we find that the truth was more complex. In this perspective, adding fractions on to others is quite conceivable.

            As we saw in the chapter on factor selection, a mere conjunction of particular fractions always has more than one factor, except for the conjunction of all the fractions in the system under consideration which has only one. If we select the strongest factor available, we obtain, as our inductive conclusion, an integer which looks identical to the original conjunction of fractions, differing only in its being defined as having only one factor.

            The movement from mere-conjunction-of-fractions to integer-by-definition is an inductive one, since it involves elimination of weaker factors. When the conjunction involves all the fractions in the system concerned it exceptionally yields the corresponding integer deductively, because no other fractions are available, so there can only be one factor, anyway.

            The example given in natural factor selection was (IOp)(IpO) ® (IOp)(IpO). Whereas the sum of the natural fractions f7+f8 has four factors, F10, F13-F15, the identical-looking integer F10 has by definition only one factor, F10. Similar examples could be provided for temporal modality, or the open system.

            This signifies that we may amplify presumed integers by addition of (particular) fractions, without our having to return to the gross formula level. This simply involves removing the presumption that the original fractions constituted an integer, whenever there is reason to believe that a further fraction should be added on to them. The presumption of integrity is removed by restoring the factors we previously selected out. This operation might be called regression.

            In that case, addition of any further fraction(s) to two or more fractions is logically demonstrable, as a straightforward conjunction between the disjunctions of factors involved. The result of such an operation, as we saw in factorial analysis, is simply the common factors of the merged strings. If we thereafter select the strongest of these common factors, we obtain a new inductive integer as conclusion, which is descriptively identical to the fractions conjoined.

            For example, if (In)(IOp) + (IpO) = (In)(IOp)(IpO) is to be proved, we say: (In)(IOp) has only factor F6 as an integer, but restored to the fractional form f5f7, its factors are F6, F11, F13, F15. The fraction (IOp), or f8, has the factors F4, F7-8, F10, F12-15. The only factors these have in common are F13, F14. These equal the fractional formula f5f7f8, or inductively the integer F13, as was required to prove.

            The following table displays the results of adding one fraction to a given fractional formula, for the whole closed system of natural (or, similarly, temporal) modality. When two fractions are to be added, proceed by adding one at a time. The two columns on the left show the given formula, in integral and fractional form. The headings of the next four columns show the particular fraction to be added. And the cells where they intersect show the concluding integers. Such conclusions are inductive, except in the cases where F15 results, since no further additions are then possible. Note that the addition of a fraction to a formula already containing it leaves the formula unchanged.

 

Table 59.1     Adding Fractions in Closed Systems.

 

Integer

Fractions

+f5=

+f6=

+f7=

+f8=

F1

f5f5

F1

F5

F6

F8

F2

f6f6

F5

F2

F9

F7

F3

f7f7

F6

F9

F3

F10

F4

f8f8

F8

F7

F10

F4

F5

f5f6

F5

F5

F11

F12

F6

f5f7

F6

F11

F6

F13

F7

f6f8

F12

F7

F14

F7

F8

f5f8

F8

F12

F13

F8

F9

f6f7

F11

F9

F9

F14

F10

f7f8

F13

F14

F10

F10

F11

f5f6f7

F11

F11

F11

F15

F12

f5f6f8

F12

F12

F15

F12

F13

f5f7f8

F13

F15

F13

F13

F14

f6f7f8

F15

F14

F14

F14

F15

f5f6f7f8

F15

F15

F15

F15

 

            Note that the universal integers F1-F4 are translated into their corresponding particular fractions f5-f8, respectively. A universal fraction may be viewed as a sum of two particular fractions, identical in all but extension, and the latter may then be fused into one particular extension, e.g. F1 = f5+f5 = f5.

            But, let us now examine more closely the conditions of validity of this process. The fractions (IOp) and (IpO) can be directly observed, by experience of the same part of the extension under different circumstances; but not so the fractions (In) and (On): they depends on generalization. As well, all four may derive from deductive arguments. While these avenues are individually easy to take for granted, it is more difficult to rest assured that had we had all the data at our fingertips at once, we would have interpreted it as we do when we receive it piecemeal. We are very much assuming that the new additions do not affect the original positions.

            This criticism only goes to show that such formula revision is an inductive process, however neatly mechanical it looks. It admittedly involves ambitious assumptions, but so do all inductive processes. We are free to return to the gross formula level, and generalize from that. All logic does here is to provide us with a cogent shortcut, which may just as well turn out to be accurate.

            The underlying justification is that, since the various fractions have so far held their ground, we have no specific empirical or logical cause for complaint; we remain protected by the conviction that, if we are wrong, an inconsistency will sooner or later arise to awaken us to the fact. Returning to the gross formula level would only make us lose already confirmed information; we are free to try it and, if the results are found more reliable, to choose that course, in any case.

            Furthermore, the fact that this process of adding fractions to integers is the only way we can conceivably arrive at the missing integers, namely F11-F15 for the closed systems as earlier mentioned, is a supplementary justification for it. If this method of induction were not valid, the missing integers would be unknowable, since neither factorial analysis, nor generalization, nor revision of gross formulas are able to yield such conclusions, as was seen.

            A table similar to the above can easily be drawn up for the open system. The various combinations of the particular fractions f7-f12, taken from 2 to 6 at a time, are amplified by one of these six fractions, to yield an integer in the range F7-F63. Since the results are implicit in our initial definitions of the integers by reference to the fractions, and in the law of generalization, we may avoid taking up more space here.

 

2.      Reconciliation of Integers.

 

            Now let us consider how conflicts between induced integers might be resolved, again in analogy to the doctrine of harmonization between gross formulas.

            a.         If two induced integers appear in the course of knowledge development, and they are judged as having unequal weights, the resolution their conflict is obviously to keep the more weighty one as it stands, and entirely reject the lighter one.

            Note well that such rejection does not mean simply labeling the unfortunate integer as 'canceled out'. The denial of an integer signifies that one or more of its implications is false. That is, some implicit element(s) and/or overlap(s) must be false, to cause the downfall of the integer as a whole. However, there is no need to seek for this precise cause of downfall: it is fully defined by the leftover heavier integer.

            Effectively, such harmonization between unequals is a special case of factor selection, guided by ad hoc considerations of credibility, instead of the regular appeal to the uniformity principle.

            If any two (or more) integers make their appearance, then we are faced with a deficient formula disjoining them, and whichever one is declared more likely, on whatever basis, the other(s) is/are eliminated. For example, if F3 and F11 both emerge, then 'F3 or F11' is true; if now say F11 is judged more weighty, then by apodosis F3 is false.

            b.         If the conflicting integers are of equal weight, we could accordingly, simply select the stronger of the two as in any generalization. Thus, in the example just given, lacking any other reason for preference, we would choose F3.

            However, another solution to the problem seems more satisfactory. Instead of reacting to such a situation in an extremist, either-or, manner, we could seek to fuse the fractions implicit in the presumed integers, into a new integer comprising all original data other than their implicit characterization as exclusive.

            The justification of such synthesis is that we thus avoid loss of significant information, which has otherwise so far found confirmation (since it has made its appearance here). Also, the repercussions on the wider context are minimized, until and unless we are forced to be more decisive.

            This topic is clearly an corollary of that of integer amplification by fractions, and all that has been said in the previous section continues to be relevant here. A presumed integer can always be made to regress into a mere conjunction of fractions, so that it is associated with more factors, and thus be made compatible with further fractions, with factors in common. Thus, though real integers, having but one factor each, are mutually exclusive, their fractional equivalents may be merged.

            The following table shows how conflicts between presumed integers may be resolved by merger, in the closed systems. The integers in the column on the left are added to the integers heading the subsequent columns, and the results are given in the cells of intersection. More precisely, of course, the fractions (not shown here) corresponding to the original integers are merged, and the result is then generalized into the new integer.

            Note that the previously inaccessible closed-systems fractions F11-F15 are made possible by harmonization, as by amplification, of integers.

 

Table 59.2       Harmonization of Equal Closed-Systems Integers.  

Int.

F1

F2

F3

F4

F5

F6

F7

F8

F9

F10

F11

F12

F13

F14

F15

F1

F1

F2

F5

F2

F3

F6

F9

F3

F4

F8

F7

F10

F4

F5

F5

F5

F11

F12

F5

F6

F6

F11

F6

F13

F11

F6

F7

F12

F7

F14

F7

F12

F15

F7